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OUR WORK IN FAR 
AWAY LANDS Sei 


A STUDY-BOOK FOR MISSION BANDS AND 
JUNIOR CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR SOCIETIES 


By MABEL W. WATERS 


WOMEN’S BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE 
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
ROOM 818, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 





Programme for Meeting on Presbyterian Missions 


Singing— “The Church’s One Foundation.” 
Scripture Reading— (I. Samuel 3:1-19 1.) 
Prayer. 

March— “Onward Christian Soldiers.” 


(Children carrying pasteboard crosses and singing) 
Roll Call. 

Offering. 

Prayer after Offering. 

Singing— “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus.” 
Lesson Story. 

Singing— “Fling Out the Banner.” 
Questions and Answers on Lesson Story. 


Talk on the Boards—(Illustrated by chart, enlarged 
on black board.) 


Singing— “Brightly Gleams Our Banner.” 
The Lord’s prayer. 


1 The Bible in the Mission Band. 


LESSON I.—PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS 


THE CHURCH. 


The Mission Bands and Junior C. E. Societies of which you 
girls and boys are members, form part of the missionary organ- 
ization of the Presbyterian Church. 

This Church is one of the branches of the great Church of 
Jesus Christ. These branches, or denominations astheyare called, 
are together working and praying for the glad day when all men 
shall accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and His Kingdom 
shall come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. 


THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 


The Presbyterian Church is a famous Missionary Church 
carrying on more than one-fourth of all the missionary work of 
the world. It believes that it has a divine message given to it 
by Christ, and that this message is to be preached and taught 
and made known the whole world over. 

So to whatever part of our own dear land this message has 
not yet been carried, and to all heathen lands and the islands of 
the sea, the Presbyterian Church is sending its missionaries to 
bear the glad tidings of the Gospel. 

The division of the Presbyterian Church to which you belong 
is known as The Presbyterian Church in the United States of 
America, and is doing its share in this great missionary cause. 
From Port Barrow on the *Athantie™Ocean, the mission station 
nearest the North Pole, to stations in southern Chili, South 
_ America, the blue banner of our Church is floating to-day. It 
waves from the destitute portions of our own land in the West, 
to the even more needy countries of the far East; and wherever 
it is found, there the people are being told of God’s wondrous 
love, and salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

To understand how its missionary work is carried on, you 
will need to know something of its government. 


GOVERNMENT AND BOARDS OF THE PRESBY- 
TERIAN CHURCH. 
An individual church is composed of the minister or pastor, 


the church members, and the congregation. Its officers are the 
minister, the elders, and the deacons. The elders and the dea- 


4 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


cons are elected by the church members. The elders help the 
pastor in the spiritual affairs of the church, and together they 
form what is known as the session. The deacons have charge 
of the poor of the congregation, and distribute the money given 
for that purpose. There are also trustees, men elected by both 
church and congregation to manage the business affairs. 

There are four courts of the Presbyterian Church, and the 
Session of an individual congregation is the first of these. The 
next higher grade is the Presbytery, which is made up of all 
the ministers and one elder from each congregation in a cer- 
tain district. The presbytery has oversight of the churches 
within its limits, and settles any questions which the churches 
cannot decide. The next higher court is the Synod.. This 
includes the presbyteries within a certain area, generally those 
in a state. It governs all the presbyteries belonging to it, and 
judges matters brought to it by them. The fourth and highest 
court is the General Assembly.. It is composed of commission- 
ers from the presbyteries. This means that each presbytery 
elects a certain number of its ministers and elders, and sends 
them to the General Assembly, which meets once each year. In 
this way every church of the denomination in the country is 
represented. The General Assembly settles matters brought to 
it by the presbyteries and synods, and is the final, or highest, 
court of the church. , 

It appoints eight Boards, or groups of men, each of which 
has charge of a certain part of the work of the church. These 
are: The Boards of Foreign Missions, Home Missions, Mis- 
sions for Freedmen, Aid for Colleges, Education, Publication 
and Sabbath School Work, Church Erection, Ministerial Relief. 


BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 


The first of these—the Foreign Board—is one in which 
Mission Bands and Junior Societies are especially interested. 
This Board has charge of missionary work in foreign lands. It 
appoints and sends out our missionaries, provides for their sup- 
port, has oversight of their work, and manages the executive 
work at home. 


WOMEN’S BOARDS. 


In connection with the Assembly’s Board are six Women’s 
Boards of Foreign Missions, with headquarters in Philadelphia, 
New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Portland, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 5 


Oregon. They aim to interest all the women and young peo- 
ple of the church in sending the Gospel to the women and chil- 
dren of heathen lands. Each of these Boards appoints one 
member to what is known as the Central Committee. This Com- 
mittee helps the Boards in deciding what share of the work , 
each one shall have. It has a general secretary, at the head- 
quarters of the Assembly’s Board, 156 Fifth Avenue, New 
York City. This secretary is appointed by both the Assembly’s 
Board and the Central Committee, and through her they carry 
on their communications. 

Your Bands and Junior Societies belong under the New York 
Board, which is called The Women’s Board of Foreign Missions 
of the Presbyterian Church, and has its headquarters also, at 156 
Fifth Avenue, New York City. The officers of this Board are a 
President, Vice-presidents, Secretaries and Treasurer. 


The Secretary for Mission Bands and Junior Societies you 
should especially know about, for she is your Secretary, having 
oversight of all the Bands and Junior Societies belonging to the 
Board. She corresponds with your Presbyterial Secretaries and 
so keeps in touch with all your work. When a new society is 
reported she sends a card of welcome from the Board; enters the 
name of the society on her list, and reports it to the missionary 
magazines. She corresponds also with your missionaries and 
others connected with your Special Work in China, India, Japan, 
Africa, and Laos. She plans new methods of work; gives fresh 
suggestions to your Leaders; secures interesting literature: and 
twice each year edits the “Foreign Post” which brings the latest 
news from all your missionaries and work. She attends the 
meetings of the Executive Committee of the Board, the Manag- 
ers’ Meeting, and the Annual Meeting; and at all of these 
reports the work and progress of all the Mission Bands and 
Junior Societies of the entire Board. 

Another officer, of whose work you should be familiar, is 
the Treasurer of the Board. The money sent for foreign mis- 
sions by all the societies belonging to the Board goes finally 
through her hands; and is given by her to the treasurer of the 
Assembly’s Board, and sent by him to the fields for which it is 
given. It is important that you should understand just how your 
gifts should reach the Board Treasurer. They should not be 
sent directly to her by the treasurer of your Band or Junior 
Society, nor to the treasurer of the Assembly’s Board. Your 
treasurer should make out a draft or money order for the 
amount, and send it to the treasurer for foreign missions of 


6 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


your Presbyterial Society. It should be inclosed in a note stat- 
ing the name of your society, and the special work for which 
you wish it applied. The Presbyterial Treasurer will then send 
a receipt to your treasurer, and will forward the money to the 
Board Treasurer. If possible, send the amount in even dollars, 
keeping the extra cents to add to your next gift, as this will be 
a help to the Board Treasurer and your Presbyterial Treasurer 
in making out their accounts. The address of both the Board 
Treasurer and the Secretary for Mission Bands and Junior So- 
cieties is Room 818, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. 


SYNODICAL SOCIETIES. 


The members of all Presbyterial Societies in a Synod com- 
prise a Synodical Society.. It has officers corresponding to 
those of the Board, and a special Secretary for Bands and Jun- 
ior Societies. This Secretary keeps in touch with all her Pres- 
byterial Secretaries in regard to the Home Mission work of 
their Bands and Junior Societies. She sends her Annual Report 
to the Secretary for Young Peoples’ Societies of the Womans’ 
Board of Home Missons, whose headquarters are at 156 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City. 


PRESBYTERIAL SOCIETIES. 


The Women’s, Young People’s, and Children’s Missionary 
Societies in all the churches of a Presbytery, form what is 
known as a Presbyterial Society. Its officers also correspond 
to those of the Board. It has a special Secretary for Bands and 
Junior Societies, who has oversight of all these societies in her 
presbytery. She also corresponds with the Board Secretary for 
Mission Bands and Junior Scieties, and sends to her an Annual 
Report of this work. 


MISSION BANDS AND JUNIOR C., E. SOCIETIES. 


Every individual Band and Junior Society has its officers, and 
also a Leader, or Superintendent, to have oversight of its work. 
This leader corresponds with her Presbyterial Secretary for 
Bands and Junior Societies, and once a year sends her a full 
report of her society. 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS y 


THE FOREIGN FIELDS. 


he how is the work carried on in the Mission Fields them- 
selves: 

In the first place, the Assembly’s Board has 17 of these Fields; 
in India, China, Japan, Korea, Siam and Laos, Persia, Western 
Equatorial Africa, Turkey, Syria, the Philippine Islands, Mexi- 
co, Guatemalia, Venzuela, Brazil, Chili, United States of Colum- 
bia, and among the Chinese and Japanese in the United States. 


A MISSION. 


Each Field is divided into a number of Missions. Just as a 
“Board” means a group of men appointed by the Church to 
have charge of a certain part of its work, so a Mission means 
all the foreign missionaries under appointment by the Foreign 
Board, who are within a certain part of a Field. The Missions 
are named from their positions in the Field, as the North India 
Mission, or the Western Africa Mission. 


A STATION. 


These Missions are also divided and their divisions are 
called Stations, and consist of all the foreign missionaries 
appointed by the Board within certain districts prescribed by 
the Mission. 


MISSION WORK. 


The work itself is of various kinds. The preaching of God’s 
word by our missionaries, foreign or native, whether it be a 
personal talk with only one individual, an address to a small 
group of people gathered together in town or country, or a ser- 
mon to the hundreds of persons who often attend the services of 
our mission churches, is known as Evangelistic Work. To this 
work also belongs the care of the churches, the Sabbath schools, 
zenana visiting, the oversight of the native Bible women and 
other helpers, and all the many ways in which missionaries and 
native helpers alike are trying to win men, women, and little 
children to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. 

Missionary physicians, both men and women, carry on what 
is called Medical Work, They make personal visits in town and 


8 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


country, and have charge of mission hospitals and dispensaries. 

Trips made through the country districts by the missionaries 
are known as Itinerating tours. There is both evangelistic and 
medical itinerating, and in this way many places are visited 
where the natives have never before heard the Gospel message. 

Our Missions have all grades of schools under their care, from 
kindergartens to colleges. Also training schools and classes for 
native teachers; theological seminaries for preparing natives for 
the ministry; and classes for medical students and nurses. 
This is called Educational Work. In many Stations are printing 
presses where Bibles, Testaments, and other literature is pub- 
lished in the native language. 


FOREIGN AND NATIVE MISSIONARIES. 


Foreign Missionaries are those men and women who are 
appointed by the Board of Foreign Missions, and sent out by it 
to our Mission Fields. Ordained ministers and other missionar- 
ies, both men and women, have charge of the evangelistic and 
educational work, and the missionary physicians and their help- 
ers care for the medical work. Much work is also done by the 
wives of missionaries, who are of invaluable assistance. 

Native Missionaries are the men and women trained by the 
Missions to help in carrying on the work, as ordained ministers, 
evangelists, teachers, Bible-women, physicians and nurses. The 
love and devotion which they show to the work, proves not 
only their appreciation of what the Gospel has meant to them, 
but also their longing to bring these same blessings to all those 
who are still in need of them. 


OUR SHARE IN THE WORK. 


What now is our share in this missionary work of the Pres- 
byterian Church? Surely it is a part of the work of the Church 
in which, as loyal Presbyterians, everyone must help, from the 
tiniest member of the Little Light Bearers, to the men and 
women who in the home land or on the foreign field, are bear- 
ing the burden and responsibility of the work. We must all 
do our part to hasten the time when there shall be no place the 
world over, where the Gospel message has not been made 
known. 

It is for this very reason that you girls and boys are gathered 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 9 


in Mission Bands and Junior C. E. Societies that you may learn 
to love this great cause; to work and pray for it; and give 
towards its support. You have missionaries and shares in the 
work at special Stations, assigned to you by the Board, that you 
may have much to interest you. 


The following lessons will teach you about these missionaries, 
and the countries in which they are laboring. 


QUESTIONS ON LESSON STORY. 


1. To what Denomination, or branch of the Church of Jesus 
Christ, do you belong? 


2. Why is it a famous missionary Church? 


3. What is the name of your division of the Presbyterian 
Church? 


4. Is it doing its share in the great missionary cause? 
5. Of what is an individual church composed? 


6. How many courts has the Presbyterian Church? Name 
them. 


7. What is a Church Session? A Presbytery? A Synod? A 
General Assembly? 


8. What are the Boards appointed by the General Assembly? 
9. How many of these Boards are there? Name them. 
10. In which are you especially interested? 


11. How many Women’s Boards of Foreign Missions are con- 
nected with this Board? 


12. Under which one do your Bands and Junior Societies 
belong? 


13. What officers has it? 
14. Which two should you know about especially? 


15. Why can you call the Secretary for Mission Bands and 
Junior Societies your Secretary? 


16. What can you tell about her work? 


10 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


17. What is the work of the Treasurer of the Board? 


18. Through whom should you send to her your gifts for for- 
eign missions? 


19. What is a Synodical Society? A Presbyterial Society? 
20. What are Mission Bands and Junior C. E. Societies? 


21. How many Mission Fields has the Assembly’s Board of 
Foreign Missions? 


22. What is a Mission? A Station? 


23. What is Evangelistic Work? Itineration? Medical Work? 
Educational Work? 


24. How are Bibles, Testaments, and other literature obtained 
in the native language? 


25. Who are Foreign Missionaries, and what is their work? 
26. Who are native Missionaries and what do they do? 


27. As loyal Presbyterians, how must we share in this mis- 
sionary work of our Church? 


28. What part is assigned by the Board to your Mission 
Bands and Junior Societies? 





Programme for Meeting on China 


Singing— “Children’s Mission Hymn.” 1 
Scripture Reading— “The Great Commission.” 
Prayer. 

Roll Call. 


Singing—““There are Lands far away o’er the Sea.” 1 
Lesson Story. 


Recitation— (Rhyme said to the Kitchen God 
before burning him) 1 


Questions and Answers on Lesson Study. 
Offering—(Prayer for God’s blessing on their gift.) 
Singing— “The Children’s Coronation.” . 


The Lord’s Prayer. 


1 ‘China for Juniors.”’ 


LESSON II.—CHINA 


COUNTRY. 


Away around on the other side of the world from where we 
live is a great country called China. By its own people it is 
known as The Middle Kingdom, the Flowery Land; the Celest- 
ial Empire; the Hills of T’ang; and Far Cathay. 

It is a very old country, with records reaching farther back 
than the time of Abraham. It is also very large—five million 
square miles—about twice the size of the whole United States 
with Alaska. 

There are many great rivers, two of which—the Yang-tse 
Kiang and the Hoang Ho—are among the noted rivers of the 
world. Canals are numerous, and in many parts of China, the 
rivers and canals take the place of roads. The Grand Canal, 
built hundreds of years ago, is one of the two famous public 
works of China. The other, the Great Wall, was built 220 B. C., 
as a defence for the northern frontier against the nation’s ene- 
mies, 

In the northern part of the country is the Great Plain. Here 
the land is very fertile and covered with hundreds of small 
farms, where the farmers work during the day, returning at 
night to their adobe villages. The climate is like our own in 
New England, and wheat and other grains are raised. 

In Central China, the climate is mild and moist. Southern 
China is like our Florida. and here is raised the rice which, with 
salt fish and vegetables, is the ordinary food of the people. They 
have many valuable plants and trees not found in our country; 
among them the tea plant, camphor tree, bamboo, varnish tree, 
wax tree, soap tree, tallow tree and li-chee. 

The southeastern portion of the land is hilly, while splendid 
mountain ranges, with snow-capped peaks, are found in the 
south and west 

Besides farming, the Chinese have many other industries, 
among them the making of beautiful silks. Multitudes of men, 
women and little children are employed in the culture of the 
silk-worm. 

Hundreds of children also help in the gathering of tea-leaves. 

The principal exports are tea, silk, medicine, fire-crackers, and 
straw braid. The largest imports are cotton goods, kerosene 
and opium. 


14 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 
PEOPLE. 


There are between three hundred and fifty and four hundred 
millions of people in this great land. You girls and boys can 
scarcely realize what this means, but perhaps you may under- 
stand it better when told that if all the people in the world 
should march in a single line, every fourth person would be 
a Chinese. 

Now, how do all these millions of people live? They are gov- 
erned, as they have been for four thousand years, by Kings or 
Emperors. There have been seven great families of kings, or 
dynasties as they are called. The Chow Dynasty, the Tsin, the 
Han, the T’ang, the Sung, the Ming, and the Manchu. In 
“China for Juniors” we find the following items of interest 
about each: “Confucius lived during the reign of the Chow 
family. One of the Emperors of the Tsins built the Great 
Wall. The Han Dynasty lasted from about two hundred years 
before the birth of Christ until two hundred years after it. 
About this time ink was invented by the Chinese, who were now 
printing books on paper made from the bark of trees. During 
the T’ang Dynasty the Chinese were the most civilized people 
on earth. Every school-boy feels the effect of the Sung Dy- 
nasty, for it was at this time that a little book was made which 
has been ever since the first one that a boy studies. When the 
Ming family began to reign America had not yet been discov- 
ered; but during their reign Columbus did discover it, and the 
last Ming king died just about the time that the Pilgrim Fathers 
came over to New England. The Manchu family is the last one 
that we need remember, for the very good reason that the 
Manchu family is still on the throne.” 

In 1875 Kwong Su, a little boy five years old, became Emper- 
or, and the Empire was placed under a regency of two dowager 
empresses. One ot these, the Dowager Empress Tse Hsi, the 
Emperor’s aunt, has ever since, until her death in November, 
1908, been the real ruler of China. She ruled until the little 
Emperor became of age, and finding afterwards that he wanted 
to introduce customs which she did not approve, she deposed 
him and resumed the government. In 1898 the Emperor had 
ordered all the children in his country to be gathered into 
schools, and taught more as girls and boys are here in our 
land. There were to be higher schools and colleges for the 
sons of the nobility. His aunt would not have these new cus- 
toms, and most of the Chinese people were afraid of them. 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 15 


It was largely these changes that caused the people to fear and 
hate the foreigners; and just because our missionaries were 
foreigners, five of them and three little children were murdered 
in our Station of Paotingfu, in June, 1900. In October, 1905, 
four others, and the little daughter of one of them, were 
murdered in our Lein Chow Station. Since then, however, many 
of the reforms the Emperor desired have been carried out. The 
Government now has good schools. 

In November, 1908, word was received the world over, that 
both the Emperor and the old Dowager Empress were dead; 
and no one could find out just how they died. And now China 
has another baby Emperor—little Pu Yi—who was only two 
years old when enthroned December second, 1908. The coun- 
try must be ruled for him until he grows up, and this is being 
done by his father, Prince Chun. Think what it would mean 
for that great land, and for the Church of Jesus Christ, if only 
se eae Emperor, when old enough, should become a Chris- 
tian! 

China’s people live in tiny villages, larger towns, and great 
cities. Their houses are built of wood, stone, brick and adobe. 
They are one story high, with concave roof, overhanging eaves, 
and earthen floor. The roofs are of tile, thatch or earth, and the 
windows seldom have glass, but are usually of paper pasted over 
lattice work. The houses of the wealthy are built around a 
court yard on which the doors and windows open. These 
houses have fine carvings and paintings, and other handsome 
furnishings; while the houses of the poor are almost hovels, 
with only one room, and that one dark, damp and dirty, and 
shared with the pig and the chickens. In North China each 
house has a stone platform about two feet high, called a kang, 
underneath which a fire is lighted for both heat and cooking, 
the heat being carried through it by a flue into the chimney. 
Here the family cooking is done. The men and women of a 
household, except among the very poor, eat separately. They 
sit at small, low tables. The rice is eaten with chop-sticks, 
in the use of which they become very expert. When night 
comes they use the kang for a bed, spreading out their pei-wa, 
or comfortables, to lie upon, and putting others over them. 
They sleep in the same clothes they wear during the day. 

Both men and women wear loose, flowing trousers, and 
double-breasted coat, buttoned at neck and side. In cold weath- 
er they wear several of these coats, one over the other. The 
girls and boys dress like their parents. 


16 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


The children learn to help with the work of the house. The 
boys are taught to read and write. The poor little girls seldom 
have this advantage, but are frequently hired out to service. 
Sometimes they are even sold, unless they are betrothed, which 
means engaged to be married. 

There is now a strong movement in China against what was 
one of the most cruel practices of the country—that of foot- 
binding. Until lately all the little girls of the better class, 
when they reached the age of five or six, had to suffer the 
terrible pain of having their feet bound. A cotton bandage, two 
or three inches wide, was wound tightly about the foot in every 
direction, and every few days was drawn tighter and tighter 
until at last the poor little foot, all out of shape, was small 
enough to fit a shoe three or four inches long, and sometimes 
even less. The girl herself became crippled for life. In many 
places now this cruel custom is being given up. 

The girls and boys of China are much like you in many ways. 
They too have their times for work and times for play, and 
greatly enjoy their games. One sad thing, however, prevents 
their ever being happy as are you Christian children. Instead 
of knowing of the loving Heavenly Father and His tender care, 
they spend all their little lives in fear of evil spirits. They are 
taught that these wicked spirits are everywhere, in the sky, 
the air, the trees, and even in the beautiful flowers. The men 
and women fear them as much as do the children. Let us see 
what the religion can be, that it causes the people to live in 
such superstition. 


RELIGION. 


There are three principal religions of China: Confucianism, 
Buddhism, and Taoism. Every Chinaman considers himself a 
Confucianist, but he can also be a Buddhist and a Taoist at the 
same time. 

Confucius was a wise man who lived in Shantung, at the time 
of the Prophet Daniel. His religion taught the people to live 
a good, moral life, but told them nothing about God, and had 
no hope of Heaven. It taught a great deal about Ancestral 
Worship, in which they already believed. Tablets twelve or 
fifteen inches high are to be found in every house. On these 
tablets are carved the names of the ancestors, and each day the 
family burns incense before them; sometimes paper clothing 
for use in the next world, if there is one; and at other times, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 17 


money. Every house has also a second shrine—a picture of 
the kitchen god—which is pasted over the fire place. The 
family is careful to pray to this idol every day, and to offer him 
sacrifices, for they believe that he sees and hears all that goes 
on in the house, and at the end of the year carries a report of 
each one of them to his brother, the “Venerable Man of the 
Sky.” Once a year, a week before New Years, the kitchen god 
is taken down, and while prayers and incense are being offered, 
he is burnt and so started off on his journey to his brother! 
Then on New Years Day a new kitchen-god is put in his place. 


Nearly two thousand years ago Mingti, who was Emperor 
at that time, had a dream which caused him to send to India 
for books and teachers. The people of India worship Buddha, 
whose religion teaches the transmigration of souls. This 
means that after a man dies his spirit passes into some other 
person, or even into some animal. The result of Emperor 
Mingti sending to India was that after a few years over three 
thousand Buddhist missionaries had come to China, and Budd- 
hism became one of the religions of the country. 


The religion which makes the people the most unhappy is 
Taoism, for this is demon worship. It has a great number of 
gods; the god of wealth, god of war, god of thunder, of small- 
pox, and of all other troubles. Whenever anyone is ill it is 
believed that some god is angry, and time and money is spent 
in trying to make him good natured again. 


There are temples all over the land, filled with idols of these 
spirit-gods and their great gods Confucius and Buddha. Here 
the men and women come to worship and offer sacrifices and 
incense; and one of the earliest lessons taught to little children 
is just how to behave when taken to the temples to worship. 


Do you not long to send them Christian teachers who will 
tell them of our loving Father, the only true God, and of His 
dear Son who died for them? When our Saviour had finished 
His life here on earth, and was about to return to His Heavenly 
Home, He gave His disciples this last great commission, “Go 
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” 
There is no one country in “all the world” where there are so 
many people still worshipping idols, as China, and who will 
never know better until we obey our Lord’s command and carry 
them the Good News. We have many missionaries already 
doing so, and your own Miss Dickie is one of them. Let us 
consider what their work is in this far away land. 


18 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


MISSIONS. 


Dr. Robert Morrison, sent out in 1807 by the London Mis- 
sionary Society, was the first Protestant missionary to China. 
He made the first translation of the Bible into Chinese. 

There are now seventy-two Protestant societies working in 
China, having in all about 3,500 missionaries. 

_ Our Presbyterian Church has eight Missions, with the follow- 
ing twenty-nine Stations: 


I. South China. II. Hunan. III. Central China. 

Canton. Siangtan. Ningpo. 
Lien Chou. Hengchow. Shanghai. 
Yeung Kong. Chenchow. Hangchow. 
Shek Lung. Changteh. Soochow. 

Taouen. 

IV. Kiang-an. V. North China. VI. East Shantung. 
Nanking. Peking. Teng-chou. 
Hwai-Yuen. Paoting-fu. Chefoo, 

Shunte-fu. Tsing-tau. 
VII. West Shantung. VIII. Hainan. 
Yi-hsien. Kiungchow. 
Ichou-fu. Nodoa. 
Tsinan-fu, Kachek. 
Wei-hsien. 


Tsining-chou. 


These stations have a total .of 271 missionaries, men and 
women, of whom 39 are medical missionaries, and about 780 
Chinese evangelists and helpers, 42 of whom are ordained min- 
isters. There are 114 churches, with over 19,300 members. 7,289 
scholars are in Sabbath-schools; 6,327 in our 306 boarding and 
day schools. 


The Central China Mission is the one in which you girls and 
boys are especially interested, for one of its Stations is Ningpo, 
where your missionary, Miss Dickie, lives. You will want to 
know more about this Mission. 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 19 


CENTRAL CHINA MISSION. 


It has four principal Stations: Shanghai, Soochow, Hang- 
chow and Ningpo, and many Out-Stations where the work is 
carried on by native helpers. Shanghai is a large city of 
500,000 inhabitants, situated on the Woosong River, 14 miles 
from the sea. Our mission work was begun there in 1850. 
This Station has the largest Mission Printing Press in the 
world. Soochow, with a population of 500,000, is 70 miles west 
of Shanghai, and our mission work began there in 1871. It has 
out-stations, but there are many places not far from the city 
which the missionaries have not yet reached. Hangchow is at 
the southern end of the Grand Canal, 156 miles northwest of 
Ningpo. It has 500,000 inhabitants, and around it a population 
of 1,500,000, with no other missionaries than ours working 
among them. Our work was started there in 1859, 


NINGPO. 


Ningpo is the Station of which you want to learn the most, 
as this is where the money is sent that you girls and boys give 
toward mission work in China. It is from this city and about 
her work here, that you receive the interesting letters from 
Miss Dickie, to which you look forward so eagerly in each issue 
of the “Foreign Post.” 

Ningpo has 300,000 inhabitants, and is situated on the Ningpo 
River, 12 miles from the sea. The field covered by this Station 
is 200 miles long and from 20 to 100 miles wide. The land to 
the west and south of the city is a beautiful plain, very fertile, 
and with many canals running through it. 

Our first missionary to Ningpo was Dr. D. B. McCartee. He 
arrived in 1844, and soon opened a dispensary in a large Taoist 
temple. We have now eleven missionaries, and you will see 
there is much work to be done when it takes so many people 
to’ carry iteon: 

There are ten Churches, with nineteen regular preaching 
places, and twenty-two Out- Stations. Think how busy this must 
keep our three ministers and the ordained native ministers! 
The other native helpers also preach. So do our missionaries’ 
wives and the other ladies of the Station, and there is teaching 
to be done in the eighteen Sabbath- schools with their 975 
scholars. What a busy day Sunday must be! Every day of the 
week is full of work, with the six day-schools to be carried on 


20 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


with their 114 pupils, and the three boarding-schools with 285 
scholars, besides all the evangelistic and medical work. 


MISS EDITH CHRISTINA DICKIE. 


Let us now see what your special missionary, Miss Dickie, 
is doing; what sort of a home she has in Ningpo, and how her 
time is spent. 

You know her so well through her letters, and some of you 
even from having met her personally, that you do not need to 
be told much about her. She is a dear friend to you all, and 
we hope you remember in your Band and Junior meetings, and 
in your own prayers at home, to ask God’s richest blessings 
upon her and her work. 

She went to China in the summer of 1906, and was appointed 
to the Station of Ningpo, as special missionary for Mission 
Bands and Junior C. E. Societies. 

She has a home of her own, with a pretty garden around it, 
and not only lovely flowers but also fresh vegetables and fruits. 
From one side of the house the river is to be seen. 

After settling her home, Miss Dickie began studying the 
Chinese language, which is very difficult to learn. She now 
knows it sufficiently to be able, when on her itinerating trips in 
the country, to preach to the natives who do not understand 
English. Sometimes she makes these trips in a house-boat on 
the river or canals. She has a Bible-woman who goes with her 
and helps her. 

On Easter Sunday, 1907, the Sabbath-school for heathen chil- 
dren in Ningpo, which had been discontinued for a year or 
more, owing to the lack of anyone in the Station with time 
to give to it, was reopened. Miss Dickie has entire charge of 
it, and some of the Christian girls of the boarding-school act as 
teachers for the little ones. Besides all this work she helps with 
the women’s training classes. 

Think what a busy life she leads, and how tired she must 
often become. She never writes of this, however, but only of 
how happy she is in her life and work there in Ningpo. What 
is it that keeps her so happy, and willing to remain in China, 
so far from her loved ones in America? Is it not because she 
has the joy that comes from obeying the Saviour’s command: 
“Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture?” Many hundreds of years before Christ gave this com- 
mand, a promise was given by God, through his prophet Isaiah, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 21 


that China should some day become a Christian nation. This 
was the promise: “Lo, these shall come from far; and lo, these 
from the north and from the west; and these from the land of 
Sinim.” The “Land of Sinim” is another name for China, 
and now Miss Dickie and all our missionaries there are helping 
to make this prophecy come true. 


mall eel eet eee Tk oe ee ne 


PAE rel ty BE EE 
wm & Wh 


— 
SO MPNAMARWNY 


QUESTIONS ON LESSON STORY. 


. Of what country are we studying? 


Is it a large country? 

How many people live in it? 

What are the three religions of the land? 

What is one of the first lessons taught to little children? 
Who was the first Protestant missionary? 


. In what year did he go there? 
. What was one great work he accomplished? 
. How many Missions has our Presbyterian Church in China? 


Name them? 


. In which one are you especially interested? Why? 


Name the four Stations of the Central China Mission? 
In which of them is the largest Mission Press in the world? 
To which of these Stations do you send your money? 


. Locate Ningpo, and state its size? 

. When was our work first started there? 

. How many miles of country around belong to the Station? 
. How many Out-Stations has it? 

- How many Churches? Sabbath schools? Day schools? 


Boarding-schools? 


. Who was our first missionary to Ningpo? 

. Who is your special missionary? 

. When did Miss Dickie go there? 

. What can you tell of her life and work? 

. What should you all remember to do for her? 

. What is the Great Commission given by the Saviour te 


us all? 


Programme for Meeting on India 


Singing—“Some one must go to the far-off lands.”! 
Prayer. 
Scripture Reading— Ps. 115 (in concert.) 


Roll Call—(Responses: Names of rivers, mountains 
and cities of India) 


Lesson Story. 

Singing— “I Love to Tell the Story.” 
Offering. 

Prayer after Offering. 

Questions and answers on Lesson Story. 

Singing— “What can we do for Jesus?” 11 


The Lord’s prayer. 


1 ‘‘Missionary Ships.’’ 
11 ‘‘Missionary Songs and Hymns.”’ 


LESSON III—INDIA 


COUNTRY. 


You are now to learn of another great country—India. 
Though much smaller than China, it is still very large, equal 
to all Europe, except Russia, or the United States east of 
the Mississippi. It is nearly 2,500 miles long and 2,000 miles 
wide. 

The country lies near the middle of the southern part of 
Asia, and is bounded on the north by the Himalaya Mountains, 
one of the most wonderful of all mountain ranges. The word 
Himalaya means “the abode of snow,” and the great, towering, 
snow-capped peaks, rising from a plateau over 15,000 feet above 
sea level, make part of the most magnificent scenery of the 
world. Below these mountains are the Northern Plains, where 
great crops of grain are raised. On these plains are most of the 
cities and towns of India, and multitudes of villages. There 
are no hills and no forests, and after the hot winds of summer 
have burned and withered everything green, the country looks 
dreary and bare. To the south of these plains is another moun- 
tain range—the Vindhya; then comes a very fertile valley 
through which runs the Narbada River. South of this plain 
and divided from it by two mountain ranges, the Eastern and 
Western Ghants, is what is called the Deccan, or South Coun- 
try, surrounded on three sides by the Indian Ocean. 

There are many large rivers besides the Narbada, among them 
the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, and the Indus from which the 
country gets its name. This river was first called “Sindhus,” 
or ocean, as the people who discovered it mistook it for the 
ocean. Later it was called “Hindus,” which accounts for the 
country also being known as Hindustan. Finally it became the 
“Indus,” which it still remains. 

India has three seasons of the years, the cold, hot, and rainy, 
corresponding nearly to our winter, summer, and autumn. 
The climate of the plains is tropical, and the Deccan and cen- 
tral parts of the country are never cold. Further north the 
nights are sometimes frosty. The cold season begins in 
October or November, and from then until March it seldom 
rains, and the weather is beautiful with almost constant sun- 
shine. By the end of March it begins to grow warmer, a strong 


24 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


west wind sets in, which by April becomes a hot wind and, to- 
gether with sun, burns up all the green grass and other vege- 
tation excepting the fruit and forest trees. While this hot 
wind blows, the missionaries and other Europeans try to stay 
indoors during the middle of the day, and do their visiting and 
outside work early in the morning or in the late afternoon and 
evening. By June the heat has become intense, but about this 
time the “monsoon bursts,’ as the people say. This means 
that the rain has begun, and for the next three months there 
is rain nearly every day. Snakes, centipedes and scorpions, 
seldom seen at other seasons, are to be found at this time, and 
many natives die from snake bites each year. Then the weather 
becomes much cooler, the grass grows fresh and green, flowers 
bloom, fruit is abundant, and the beautiful cold season has 
returned. 

Grains of all kinds are raised in the north of India; coffee 
and spices in Ceylon; tea on the slopes of the Himalayas. 
Tropical fruits of all kinds are abundant; the mango being to 
the people of India what the apple is to us here in America. 

The most common food of the people in the south is rice; 
in the north different varieties of millet, and grains belonging 
to the pea family. 

India exports great quantities of tea, rice, wheat, flour and 
coffee. Also jute, cotton, hides, lumber and other products. 


PEOPLE. 


This great country has nearly 300,000,000 inhabitants, or more 
than one fifth of the population of the world. No one knows just 
who were the original inhabitants, but probably they were 
Negritos, a few of whom are still to be found. It is known, 
however, that from time to time great hordes of different peo- 
ples from Central Asia swept over the Himalaya Mountains, 
and took possession of the land. The Aryans, whose home 
was probably south of the Aral Sea, were the greatest in- 
vaders, and the larger part of the population now is of Aryan 
origin. These people ruled for many years, but in 327 B. C., 
Alexander the Great conquered Porus, the greatest of the 
Aryan lords, and carried the Grecian standards far into the 
country. For the next nine or ten centuries there were invasions 
by Parthians, Scythians, and Huns, Arabs, Afghans, and Tartars, 
and Mongolians with their fierce Mohammedan religion. The 
Mongols by the sixteenth century had conquered nearly the 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 25 


whole of northern India, while the Hindus ruled in the south. 
One of the famous Mongol Emperors built at Agra the Taj 
Mahal, one of the most magnificent buildings in the world. 


In 1613 an English trading company established itself at 
Surat, on the west coast. This East India Company came sim- 
ply as traders, but soon were forced into a civil and military 
organization. An awful mutiny occurred in 1857, when the 
Sepoys—the native troops of the Company—rose in rebellion 
all through northern India. There were terrible battles and 
sieges, but the natives had no competent commanders, while 
the British generals were splendid men and in the end won a 
complete victory. The East India Company was then dissolved, 
and Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. Many 
of the native states were allowed to retain their own rulers; but 
they have to keep loyal to the British, aid them in time of war, 
adopt reforms in their government, and can not become larger 
without the consent of the British. As the natives are neither 
united nor warlike, the British are able to keep them under con- 
trol. The head official, called the Viceroy, is appointed by the 
Crown. 

High-caste Hindus are well educated and intellectual, but the 
vast mass of the people living in villages, are poor, ignorant and 
degraded. 

They all have black hair and eyes, dark skin, and regular fea- 
tures, are of medium height, and those in north stronger than 
those in the south. 

The southern villages are picturesque, built in palm groves, 
with low mud houses having thatched roofs, and often covered 
with vines. These houses inside are dirty and comfortless. A 
few coarse-woven mats are on the floor, and here the wife and 
children sleep while the husband has a rude bed. A spinning- 
wheel, a few cooking utensils, a box for clothing, and a stool or 
two comprise the furniture. Each village has its head man. 
Around these villages are farms, usually owned by the head 
man and rented to the people, who work them during the day 
and return to their homes at night. The women bring water 
from the wells outside the villages, grind the grain, cook the 
food, spin, weave, and make their clothing. 

A town is a large village and has a magistrate and petty court. 
The houses are built like those in the villages, but are usually 
set in a courtyard the rear of which is to the street, and consists 
of mud walls with windows set high to prevent anyone from 
looking out. They have earthen floors, and no chimneys. 


26 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


The cities and large towns have some very magnificent pal- 
aces of marble and stone, but the houses are mostly of brick. 
They are built around a courtyard on which all rooms open. 
There are no windows on the outside, only a blank wall with a 
door for entrance. 


The wealthy Mohammedan women are never seen on the 
streets, and to no one even in their homes, excepting their fath- 
ers, husbands, or brothers. They leave their homes seldom 
except to attend family feasts, when they go in closed car- 
riages. They embroider, work on lace, and a very few read their 
religious books; but they lead sad, monotonous lives, shut up 
year after year in the zenana, as the women’s part of the house 
is called. The poorer women are servants to the rich or are 
wives of working men, and live as do the women of the villages. 
The Hindu brings his wife to his father’s home, where in all 
things she must obey her mother-in-law. The Mohammedan 
usually takes his to his own home, but she has no easier time. 
Neither does the Buddhist wife, though her husband comes to 
live with her parents. 


The dress of the women, called the sarree, is simple but 
graceful. Sometimes a tight fitting under jacket is worn, but 
excepting for this the entire dress is one piece of cloth six to 
nine yards long. One end is wrapped around the waist, gathered 
into folds in front, and secured by tucking under; the other end 
is drawn across the waist over one shoulder and arm and 
brought to the waist at the back. They also wear what is 
known as the chuddar, a cloth wound about the head and shoul- 
ders. They wear all the jewelry they can secure, on their toes, 
ankles, fingers, wrists, arms, neck, nose, ears, and hair. The 
men’s dress consists of two cloths; one wound about the waist 
and falling over the knees, the other thrown around the should- 
ers and then drawn about the waist. The poorer men often 
leave off this upper cloth, while high-caste Hindu gentlemen 
wear a richly embroidered jacket over it. They all wear large 
cloth or silk turbans upon the heads, and sandals or deco- 
rated slippers on their feet. None of the women, even 
the wealthy, wear anything upon their feet excepting rings and 
anklets. The older girls and boys dress like their parents; but 
little children, until about eight years old, have no trouble 
whatever about their clothes, because, like the little Africans, 
they do not wear any! High-caste babies are very cunning with 
their rings and anklets, and sometimes a string of beads 
around their waist. 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 27 


There are two classes of Hindu children—the caste and the 
out-caste. Caste children are well cared for, but the out-caste 
girls and boys are usually dirty and unkempt. Their elder sis- 
ters and brothers go with their parents to work, and the little 
ones are left to look after themselves—the girls to carry around 
the babies, and the boys to watch the cattle. Indian children 
have few indoor playthings, but are all fond of out-door sports, 
the boys playing many of the games you are familiar with in 
America—marbles, hop-scotch and others. The girls play tag, 
hunt the button, jack straws, and a number of games set to 
music. They are also taught to cook well, to keep house, and 
how to perform the ceremonies and feasts. They are not wel- 
come in the home—these poor little girls—and are often so 
neglected that they die soon after they are born. They are not 
allowed to attend school as are the boys, who begin their educa- 
tion early. The smaller villages have no schools, so the boys 
walk to the nearest town. 


The majority of Mohammedan girls are secluded when very 
young. Shut up in the zenanas, with few amusements, they lead 
hard unhappy lives. 


There is one thing above all others, which makes the life of 
the Hindu girl so cruelly sad, that it would have been better for 
her had she been allowed to die, as so many are, as a baby. 
This is widowhood. The little girls are married when between 
five and ten years old, and often to middle aged and even old 
men, who soon die and leave them widows. Then they are con- 
sidered the cause of their husband’s death and can never marry 
again. Kindness is never shown to them; they are cruelly 
treated by the other members of the family, even though they 
may be only five or six years old; their pretty jewelry is all 
taken away, and they have only coarse clothing to wear. Only 
the plainest food is given to them, and they have no place at 
the family feasts. 

Think of it—you girls and boys with your happy Christian 
homes—just think of it, there are nearly 22,600,000 of these poor 
little Hindu widows, and 80,000 of them under ten years of age! 


This cruel practice is part of one of the false religions of the 
country, and neither the girls and boys of India, nor the grown 
men and women, can be really happy until these heathen relig- 
ions are done away with, and the religion of Jesus Christ 
reigns in all that great land. Will you not work and pray more 
earnestly than ever before, that this time may be hastened? 


28 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


RELIGION. 


The chief religions of India are Hinduism, Buddhism, Mo- 
hammedanism, Demon-worship, and Parsi-ism. Hinduism is a 
series of forms used for the worship of the god Brahma. The 
priests are called Brahmans, and teach that four classes of men 
were created by Brahma. I. The Brahmans, or priests. II. The 
Kahatriyas, or soldiers. III. The Vaisyas—farmers and mer- 
chants. IV. The Sudras—mechanics and servants. This is what 
is known as Caste. Each of these castes has now many sub- 
divisions, and below them all are the Pariahs, or outcastes. A 
Hindu may neither eat nor drink with those of a lower caste. 
If the shadow of a low-caste man falls on a Brahman’s food it 
must be thrown away. A man always belongs to the same caste 
as his father, and can never rise above it, but if he breaks its 
rules he becomes an outcaste. This makes the high-caste men 
proud and selfish, and prevents the low-caste from ever trying 
to rise in life. Widowhood and this caste system are only two 
of the many evils of Hinduism. In Benares, considered the most 
sacred place in India, are five thousand Hindu temples, each 
a its hideous idols. The Vedas are the Brahman’s sacred 

ooks, 


About 500 B. C. there lived in India a young prince known as 
Gautama Buddha, which means “the enlightened.” His father 
wished him to become a soldier, but he loved to spend his time 
thinking over great questions about life and death. For six 
years he lived in a mountain cave, where he was often cold and 
hungry. Then he began preaching to the people and taught 
them some good lessons for this life, such as kindness to every 
living thing, and that they must not kill, steal, lie nor use 
strong drink. But he did not know God, so could teach the 
people nothing about Him, nor tell them anything about the life 
to come. He taught instead, that if they obeyed these com- 
mands their souls would pass at death into some higher life, 
and at last g0 into an eternal sleep—Nirvana—which means 
“blown out.” If they failed, they would be born into some 
lower form of animal or bird. He did not tell the people to 
worship him, but the Buddhists do worship him and everything 
connected with him. 

When the Hindus conquered India, the savage fines they 
found there were mostly Demon- worshipers, and the few of 
them still remaining in the land, are so yet. They believe the 
earth to be filled with evil spirits living in trees, plants, streams, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 29 


and rocks, and that offerings and sacrifices must constantly be 
made to them to prevent their harming the people. 

Mohammed was a native of Arabia, who lived about 1,300 
years ago, and said he had received a new revelation from God. 
He claimed that God commanded him to force all men to obey 
him; so he and his fierce Arabian followers started out to fight 
and to kill all who would not become Mohammedans. Their 
battle cry was, “There is one God, and Mohammed is His pro- 
phet.” This religion soon spread over western Asia and parts 
of Europe and Africa. About one hundred years after it began 
it was carried to India, but never ruled over the whole of the 
land. Their sacred book is the Koran, which Mohammed said 
was a direct gift from God; but we know well that such a cruel, 
wicked religion never came from our Heavenly Father. 


Parsi-ism is the religion of the Parsis, or Persians who were 
driven into India by the Mohammedans. They are the Fire- 
worshipers of the East, and though there are 150,000 of them 
in India, their religion has little influence in the land. 


Is it not sad, girls and boys, to realize that nearly the whole of 
the 300,000,000 people of India, even the little children, are 
believers in these false religions? Not quite all, thank God, for 
by His blessing upon the labors of Christian missionaries who 
have gone there to carry them the Gospel, there are now 1,000- 
000 native Christians. We will learn where in that distant land 
our missionaries are working, and what share your Bands and 
Junior Societies have in this great cause. 


MISSIONS. 


The first Protestant missionaries to India were Bartholomew 
Ziengenbalg and Henry Plutschau, sent out in 1705, by the 
Danes, 

The first English society to send missionaries there was the 
Baptist. This society was formed through the influence of Wil- 
liam Cary, and he was sent as their first missionary, reaching 
India in 1793. 

Henry Martyn was the pioneer American missionary, and 
began his work at Dinapur, far up the Ganges river, in 1806. 

Presbyterian missions commenced in 1834, when Rev. John 
C. Lowrie, afterwards one of the Secretaries of the Board of 
Foreign Missions, began at Lodiana our first mission station in 
India. 


30 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


There are now about one thousand Protestant missionaries 
working in that land, belonging to more than eighty different 
Societies and Boards. There are nearly as many native minis- 
ters. 

Our Presbyterian Church has three Missions, the Punjab, the 
Northern India or Farrukhabad, the Western India. These 
Missions have the following twenty-eight Stations: 


Punjab Mission Northern India Western India 
beurre Mission Mission 
Sabathu Allahabad Kollhapur 
Saharanpur Mainpurie Islampur 
Jullundur Fatehgarh Ratnagiri 
Ambala Fatehpur Sangli 

Lahore Etawah Miraj 

Dehra Landour Vengurli 
Mussoorie Jhansi 

Ferozepore Etah 

Khanna Cawnpore 

Hoshyarpore Morar 


PUNJAB MISSION. 


There is no need to tell you in which of these three Missions 
you are especially interested, for you will see at once that Hosh- 
yarpore, your Station, belongs to the Punjab, which is the larg- 
est of the three, having eleven Stations and eighty-two Out- 
Stations. It is also the oldest, seventy-five years having passed 
since it was first established. In 1834 work was started at Lodi- 
ana, by Rev. John C. Lowrie, D. D., our pioneer missionary to 
India. Lodiana was at that time a military cantonment of the 
East India Company. 


In the eleven Punjab Stations, all sorts of missionary work 
are to be found: Churches and Sabbath schools, hospitals and 
dispensaries, orphanages, leper asylums, and all grades of 
boarding and day schools, from kindergartens to colleges. This 
work is being carried on by 69 foreign missionaries, of whom 7 
are physicians. These missionaries are assisted by 307 native 
Christian workers, 32 of whom are ordained ministers. 

The 23 Churches have a membership of 6,163, while 4,299 pu- 
pils are in the Sabbath schools. 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 31 


One of the most interesting Stations, not only of the Punjab, 
but of any of our Presbyterian Missions, is Hoshyarpore, to 
which your Band and Junior gifts for India are given. 


HOSHYARPORE. 


This Station was opened in 1867, and has ever since been car- 
ried on entirely by native missionaries. The first to begin the 
work was Rev. Guru Dass Moitra, who was succeeded the fol- 
lowing year by Rev. Kali Charan Chatterjee, D. D. For all 
these past forty-two years he and Mrs. Chatterjee, assisted in 
later years by their daughters, have had complete charge of the 
Station. 


Dr. Chatterjee’s parents were high-caste Hindus, so their 
children by their birth became of this same class—Brahmins— 
and from this caste, Dr. Chatterjee inherited very high social 
and professional position. He was graduated from a college in 
Calcutta, founded by a missionary named Dr. Duff, and it was 
through Dr. Duff’s influence that he was led at the age of twenty 
to become a Christian. On graduating he became head master 
of Jullunder Missionary School, and afterwards a professor in 
the Men’s College, Lahore. 


In 1868 he was ordained, and sent to Hoshyarpore, where he 
is pastor of the strongest native Church in India, having a mem- 
bership of between eight and nine hundred. Besides the pas- 
toral work of this large Church, he preaches once each week 
to an English, and twice a week to Hindustani congregations. 


He holds evangelistic meetings for non-Christians, and sup- 
erintends a Reading Room situated in one of Hoshyarpore’s 
busiest streets. Besides his city work he travels through the 
large districts belonging to his Station. This district is in 
the north of India, on the foot-hills of the Himalaya moun- 
tains. There are eight Out-Stations, each with its native work- 
ers, but as Dr. Chatterjee is the only missionary, he has to visit 
and help them all; examine those whom they have taught; admin- 
ister the Communion and preach both in these Out-Stations and 
other places visited during his itinerating tours. 

There are now five organized Churches in this district. The 


whole Christian community numbers 3,106, of whom 1,942 are 
Church members. 


32 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


MRS. CHATTERJEE. 


Rev. Golak Nath, noted for being the first Braham conver- 
ted in our Presbyterian Mission, and also for the wonderful 
influence he and his family have had in winning others to Jesus 
Christ, is the father of Mrs. Chatterjee. His ten sons have all 
become influential men, and two of his three daughters mar- 
ried into royal families of India. The third daughter married 
Dr. Chatterjee, and it is from her that you now receive the 
interesting accounts in your “Foreign Post,” of the Hoshyar- 
pore Orphanage which your money helps to support. 


Many of you are already familiar with this Orphanage, which 
was started in 1888, and know of the splendid work Mrs. Chat- 
terjee 1s accomplishing among the little Hindu and Mohamme- 
dan girls. It is a happy Christian home for orphan girls and 
also for the children of the poorer native Christians of Hosh- 
yarpore. Of the 63 now on the roll, 23 are orphans, 9 are half 
orphans, and 31 have both parents living. 


These little girls learn cooking, plain sewing, knitting, lace 
making, and drawn-thread work. They are trained to habits 
that will fit them for the life they will live as wives of village 
workers and teachers. The school work takes them as far as 
the fifth class of the Urdu Upper Primary course, and besides 
the regular subjects of this course, there is very thorough in- 
struction in the Bible. Also reading and writing in Roman 
Urdu. 

Miss Lena Chatterjee was a great help to her mother in the 
care of this. Orphanage, and had besides two day-schools in the 
city, one for Hindu girls and the other for Mohammedans. 
You will, some of you, remember the good letters she wrote 
about her work. On the 15th of November, 1907, she was mar- 
ried to her cousin, Kanwar Rughbir Singh. He holds a gov- 
ernment position as sub-judge, and is called Kanwar, which 
means prince. He is an earnest Christian, and we may be sure 
that wherever he and Mrs. Singh may be sent, they will do 
good work for the Master. 

Mrs. Chatterjee has now three native teachers to help her in 
the work and care of the girls. They were all famine orphans, 
rescued and educated in the Orphanage. 

Dr. Dora Chatterjee, another daughter, graduated from the 
Philadelphia Medical College, and returning to India took 
charge of the Denny Hospital, Hoshyarpore, which was opened 
on February 2nd, 1902. When Dr. and Mrs. Chatterjee first 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 33 


went to Hoshyarpore they lived in a house in the center of the 
city. They afterwards moved to the new Mission house where 
they now live, and the old Mission house is used for the Hos- 
pital. It is a two-story building, the lower floor being fitted up 
for the dispensary, while up stairs there are eight beds. Dr. 
Chatterjee has done fine work in both hospital and dispensary 
besides looking after the Orphanage girls, and having an out- 
side practice. On September 29th, 1909 she was married to Mr. 
Mangat Rai, of Abbottabad, and is much missed not only in her 
home, but in all Hoshyarpore. Her place has been taken by 
Miss Magie Ghose, a graduate of the North India School of 
Medicine, at Lodiana, and who has had several years of exper- 
ience in hospital work. 

Can you girls and boys realize what it means for Dr. and Mrs. 
Chatterjee to give their whole lives to this work, when both are 
high caste Brahmans? They had everything that the highest 
social and religious life of their country could give them. But 
when they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, 
and found the joy of love and service for Him, the great 
aim of their lives became to win as many as possible of the 
men, women and little children of their land, to this same faith 
in the Saviour. Knowing well that neither the Brahman nor 
any other heathen religion can ever make the people happy, or 
save them from their sin, they are living and working there in 
Hoshyarpore. The Holy Spirit is blessing their labors, and 
from the little children of the Orphanage, to the oldest men 
and women reached by Dr. Chattetjee’s preaching, many are 
being led to the same Master they so lovingly served and 
honor. 


QUESTIONS ON LESSON STORY. 


What country are you now studying, and where is it? 
How does it compare in size with China? 

What is the number of its inhabitants? 

What can you tell of the life of its girls and boys? 

. What are the religions of the land? . 

. Which is the hardest for the little girls? Why? 


An P-wnN eo 


34 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


. What country sent the first Protestant Missionaries to 


India? 


. Who was our first Presbyterian Missionary? 

. How many Missions has our Presbyterian Church in India? 
10. 
LY. 
LZ 
13: 
14. 
15: 


In which are you especially interested? Why? 

Which was the first Station of the Punjab Mission? 

When and by whom was the Hoshyarpore Station begun? 
When did Dr. and Mrs. Chatterjee begin work there? 

Of what interesting work has Mrs. Chatterjee charge? 
What can you tell about this Orphanage? 





Programme for Meeting on Japan 


Singing— “I Think when I read that Sweet 
Story of Old.” 


Prayer. 
Scripture Reading. 1 
Roll Call. 


March— (Each child drop offering into plate 
when passing desk.) 


Prayer after Offering. 


Singing— “Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us.” 
Lesson Story. 


Map Exercise— (Placing of gilt paper stars on 
Mission Stations.) 


Questions and Answers on Lesson Story. 


Singing— “Once Again, Dear Lord, We Pray.” 11 
(Sung softly.) 


The Lord’s Prayer. 


1 “The Bible in the Mission Band.” 
11 ‘'China for Juniors.”’ 


LESSON IV.—JAPAN 


COUNTRY. 


Japan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. It 
is an island empire, made up of five large islands and four thou- 
sand small ones. Hondo, Yezo, Kyushu and Shikotu, four of the 
largest, form a crescent bending toward the west. The smaller 
ones stretch far to the north and to the south from this crescent, 
with Formosa, the other large one, at the extreme southern end, 
and only two hundred miles from the Philippines. 

The country has an area about the size of our State of Cali- 
fornia. A range of mountains runs down the middle of Hondo; 
splendid mountains with snow-capped peaks. Between Hondo 
and Shikotu, and Hondo and Kyushu lies the Inland Sea, and 
around all the islands are numerous bays and inlets. The Japan 
Sea separates the country from Korea, China and Russia. The 
climate varies from the intense cold of the northernmost islands 
to the tropical heat of Formosa. The scenery is magnificent 
with great mountains, charming valleys, exquisite flowers and 
shrubbery, and surrounding all, the beautiful blue waters of the 
Pacific Ocean. 

No wonder the people delight in their lovely country. Of all 
its beauties they think most of Fujiama, a great mountain ris- 
ing in one unbroken curve from sea level to a height of 12,365 
feet. They consider it sacred, and every summer thousands of 
pilgrims take the long hard journey to the summit. Another of 
the wonders of Japan is Nikko, with its superb trees and mag- 
nificent temples. It, too, is on Hondo and the people love it the 
most of all their sacred places. The region is believed to be 
filled with fairies, giants and demons; and the children’s fairy 
tales nearly all begin, “Once upon a time, in the Nikko Moun- 
tains.” 

The Japanese are so devoted to flowers that they call each 
month by the name of the flower, shrub, or tree that blossoms at 
that time. They have special days, or Flower Festivals, when 
they visit the places that are celebrated for certain kinds of blos- 
soms. The most beautiful Festival is that of the Cherry Blos- 
som, in April, and the most noted place to visit at that time is 
Uyeno Park in the city of Tokyo. 

Besides the flowers, many delicious fruits grow on the island; 


38 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


oranges, figs, grapes, pears, and persimmons as large as apples. 
Sweet potatoes and other vegetables are raised, but the princi- 
pal crops are rice and tea. The people may almost be said to 
live upon rice, tea and fish. They eat eggs and chickens, and are 
beginning to use beef and mutton. 

The industries peculiar to Japan are silk and tea culture, and 
the manufacture of wonderful bronze, lacquer, and porcelain 
wares. 


PEOPLE. 


The Japanese are not a very old people. Their real history 
begins about the time that the Angles and Saxons invaded Eng- 
land . They have many old myths and traditions, one of which 
is that their first Emperor was a son of Amaterasu, the Sun God- 
dess. For this reason every Emperor has been called the “Heav- 
en Child,” and considered divine. Niphon or Nippon, which 
means “Source of Light,’ is the name they give their country; 
while Jih-pun or Japan, came from China and means “the place 
the sun comes from.” You see the two names are quite similar, 
and the land is known as the Land of the Rising Sun, or Sunrise 
Kingdom. 

The population is 50,000,000. The country is ruled by an Em- 
peror whom foreigners call the Mikado, but who is generally 
spoken of as the Tenshisama, or “Heaven Child,” by the Japa- 
nese. 

The people for years were divided into three great clans, each 
with its chieftain, much as the Scottish people were at one time. 
There was the Fujiwara Clan, or “Blue Wistaria;” the Minamo- 
to, or “White Gentian,” and the Taira, or “Red Butterfly.” 
First one of these clans would be in power, then another, and 
another for they were constantly fighting. The Emperor was 
the real ruler, but the clans did about as they pleased and had 
great control over the people. The land was divided into small 
states, governed by feudal lords, called Daimios, 

Two or three hundered years ago an officer of the army, bear- 
ing the title of Shogun, usurped the chief authority. From that 
time until 1868 the Shoguns were the actual rulers of the coun- 
try, although the Mikado was the nominal head. For some time 
before 1868, however, the Daimios had wished to dethrone the 
Shogun, and restore the Mikado to power; so that year they 
raised an army, fought several battles, and gave the Mikado 
back his rights. He moved from Kyoto, his old capital, to 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 39 


Tokyo, which has been the capital ever since. 

The Shoguns had admitted foreigners into the country, 
but the Mikado’s party hated them and not only refused to 
allow them to come into the country, but forbade any Japanese 
who had once left the land to return. America, England, 
France and Russia all tried to get in, but no one succeeded 
until our Commodore Perry came. He sailed right into Yeddo 
Bay one night, in his big battleship, Mississippi, and brought 
to the Mikado a letter from the President of the United 
States! The day the letter was delivered, July 14th, 1853, is 
said to be the birthday of New Japan; for the Mikado and 
his advisers were wise enough to accept the letter, and from 
that time on have become more and more progressive and 
favorable to foreign institutions. They now have a repre- 
sentative government, which means that the people elect 
representatives to help the Mikado in governing them. There 
are mail and postal systems, telephones, telegraphs, railroads, 
newspapers, schools and colleges of all grades, and a fine 
army and navy. They had a war with China in 1894, and 
another with Russia in 1904-1905, and were victorious in both. 

The Japanese are small of stature, with black hair and 
slightly oblique black eyes. The men cut their hair like Euro- 
peans, while the women wear theirs very elaborately ar- 
ranged. It is done by a hair-dresser only once or twice a 
week, and to keep it in order they sleep with a little wooden 
pillow six inches long and two inches wide, under their neck. 
They not only live in a beautiful country, but every thing 
they have about them, their homes, clothes, and all their 
belongings are lovely. Men, women and children all wear a 
sort of gown, called kimono, cut straight and very narrow, 
with a sash around the waist. On their feet they wear a 
sock of white or dark blue cotton goods, something like a 
mitten wth a finger for the big toe. When going out of doors 
they put on wooden shoes, fastened by a thong that passes 
between the big toe and the others. The little girls and 
boys are so bright and pretty in this costume that when play- 
ing together, especially in their kindergarten games, they 
make very lovely pictures. 

Japanese houses are but one story high. The better ones 
have tile roofs, others are covered with shingles, while those 
in the country are mostly thatched. The walls are nothing 
more than large, light, paper-covered doors’ or partitions 
that slide backward and forward on grooved sills. In the day 


40 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


time they are shoved back, and the house all open to the 
lovely gardens outside. There is scarcely any furniture; 
no chairs, for the people sit on mats, and at night spread 
comfortables on them to sleep upon. The floors are covered 
with these mats, which are two inches thick and six by three 
feet wide. The people have tiny tables only a foot high, and 
eat off of beautiful china. They use chop-sticks as the 
Chinese do, and are very skillful in their use, holding both in 
one hand. 

They are fond of excursions and picnics, and delight in 
their Japanese music. They have many games, and the 
children play some of those familiar to you American girls 
and boys. Kite-flying is the favorite, with kites not flat like 
yours, but bowed, and each with a couple of strings stretched 
across it, which make a humming sound in the wind. 

The children are very happy, even little girls, for they are 
loved and cared for and given a happy life as long as they re- 
main children. The boys start in at the kindergarten very 
young; at six go to the “elementary school” for five years; 
after that to the higher school; finally to the Imperial Uni- 
versity at Tokyo. The girls are now allowed to go as far as 
the end of the “elementary school,’ that is until they are 
about fourteen years old . This is all the education the gov- 
ernment will give the poor little girls, and it is only lately it 
has allowed them this. The religions of the land teach that 
women have neither brains nor souls, and so it is not wise 
nor safe to give them much schooling. The girls are taught 
housekeeping, and how to arrange flowers in the choice vases 
to be found in every home. They must be always very polite, 
and never fail to show perfect submission to their grand- 
parents, fathers and brothers, and then to their husbands 
and fathers-in-law, and finally to their sons! So even in 
Japan where, more than in almost any other heathen nation, 
little girls are loved and cared for, it is only while they re- 
main children that they are really happy. Shall we not 
do all we can to hasten the time when Japan shall be a 
Christian nation, and its men, women and little children ail 
know the blessings and joy of the Christian life? 


RELIGION. 


Shintoism, which was the early faith of Japan and is still 
believed, teaches the worship of the Emperor and has many 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 41 


other gods. Confucianism also has a large following. You 
will remember, from your lesson on China, that it is named 
from its founder, Confucius, who taught some good lessons 
for this life but could tell nothing about the life to come. 
Buddhism, brought first from India, is still another religion 
of the country; teaching that at death the soul passes into 
some new born human being, or even into some animal; that 
it may be thus reborn thousands of times; and that at the 
end it goes into Nippon, which is a kind of eternal sleep. 
All three of these religions teach Ancestral Worship, and 
each house has a Butsudan, or Buddha shelf, and a Kami- 
dana, or god-shelf. On these are kept the idols, to which 
daily offerings are made. 

There are thousands of temples and shrines all over the 
country, and millions of idols, especially of Buddha. In Kyoto 
there is a Children’s Temple, with many small wooden 
Buddhas; for just as in China, so here in Japan, even little 
children are taught to worship idols. 

These false religions can bring the people neither comfort 
in this life nor hope for the future. The Gospel of Jesus 
Christ alone can bring them peace and joy. Our Lord and 
Master has Himself given us the command to preach this 
Gospel the whole world over, and it is in obedience to His 
command, that our missionaries are laboring there in Japan, 
as also in so many other lands. Let us see what they have 
been able to accomplish, and in what way you girls and boys 
are helping them. 


MISSIONS. 


Christianity was first carried to Japan by Portuguese Roman 
Catholic missionaries in 1549, but they tried to interfere with 
the government and were expelled from the country. From 
this interference in civil affairs, the Japanese came to hate 
and fear Christianity, and laws were passed forbidding anyone 
to profess it, on pain of death. 

Dr. Hepburn, sent out in 1859 by our Presbyterian Church, 
was the first Protestant missionary to Japan. When he and 
Mrs. Hepburn first reached the country, the old hatred to the 
name of Christianity was so strong that it was some years 
before they could openly preach the Gospel to the people. 
They made a home out of an old Buddhist temple in the city 
of Kanazawa, and here the people first saw what a true 


4? OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


Christian home was. Dr. Hepburn was a medical-missionary, 
and soon his skill and kindness in treatment won hitn many 
friends, and helped greatly in preparing the way for the 
preaching of the Gospel. After a time the Hepburns moved 
to Yokohama, and there in 1872 the first Japanese Church was 
organized. 

Five Protestant Churches besides the Presbyterian are now 
working in Japan, and there are about 51,000 native Christians. 
Some years ago all the missionaries of our own and the other 
Presbyterian Churches decided to unite and form in Japan 
one Presbyterian Church, called the Church of Christ in Japan. 
This church has thirty-five self-supporting churches and forty 
churches assisted by our Missions. The Church membership 
is about 15,000. 

Our Presbyterian Church has two Missions—the Eastern 
Japan and the Western— with the following eighteen stations; 


Eastern Japan Mission. Western Japan Mission. 
Yokohama Kanazawa Port Arthur 
Tokyo Osoka Shimonoseki 
Hokkaido Hiroshima Kure 
Kyoto Korea 
Yamaguchi Yamada 
Fukin Wakayama 
Darien Tanabe 
Tsu 


EASTERN JAPAN MISSION. 


There are three principal stations in this Mission. Hok- 
kaido is an island, of 30,371 square miles, one-fifth of the whole 
empire, with a population of 1,516,000. Its other name is 
Yezo, so you see it is one of the four large islands that form 
the crescent. This station has work in three cities. Sapporo, 
the capitol, is 350 miles north of Tokyo, and work was begun 
there in 1887. There is a fine girls’ school—the Hokusei Jo 
Gakko—with one hundred and seventy-five pupils. In Otaru, 
25 miles northwest of Sapporo, work was started in 1894, Here 
also is a school—the Seishu Jo Gakko—with about fifty girls, 
and one hundred children in the kindergarten. The pupils 
attend family worship, have daily instruction in the Bible, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 43 


belong to the Sabbath-school, and the older ones attend 
church. About 100 miles northeast of Sapporo is Asahigawa, 
where work began in 1900. Here the missionaries train and 
have oversight of the native evangelists; and from here visit 
monthly the other cities. They also carry on evangelistic 
itinerating in the surrounding country. 

Another of the three stations is Yokohama, on Yeddo 
Bay, a few miles from Tokyo, and the seaport of the city. 
It is the oldest of all our Japan Mission Stations. You will 
remember it is where Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn made their home 
in 1859, soon after reaching the country. The work of the 
Church of Christ, our Presbvterian Church of Japan, there 
in Yokohama, is now under the care of a Japanese pastor. 


TOKYO. 


This is the station which you can claim as yours, for it is 
the one to which you girls and boys send your money raised 
for mission work in Japan. Here Mrs. McCauley has the 
two day-schools of which you hear in the “Foreign Post.” 

Tokyo is on the island of Hondo, at the head of Yeddo 
Bay. It is a large city of 1,299,941 inhabitants. Our work be- 
gun there in 1869, now requires twenty missionaries to carry 
it on. There are churches and Sabbath-schools, both in the 
city and the Out-Stations; a Bible Woman’s Training School; 
a Red Cross Hospital; a Leper Home; evangelistic itineration; 
educational and literary work. The Meiji Gakuin, for young 
men and boys, has a preparatory school, college, and theo- 
logical seminary. The girls’ school—Joshi Gakuin—with pre- 
paratory, intermediate and advanced departments, has two 
hundred and thirty pupils. For children, both girls and boys, 
there are two primary schools and a kindergarten, and of these 
your missionary has charge. 


MRS. J. M. McCAULEY. 


The reports Mrs. McCauley sends of her work, and the 
kind letters she writes you, make her seem a very real and 
near friend to you. You will enjoy learning more about how 
and where she lives in that big, far away city of Tokyo, and 
mrt other work she has besides the two schools you know so 
well, 


44 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


For one thing, she has charge of the Rescue Home. This 
is where she brings young girls who need some kind friend to 
care for them and help them so that they may grow up into 
good Christian women. The Bible is taught every morning 
and evening, and an hour and a half is given each day to 
school work. The girls are also taught cooking, sewing and 
knitting. This Home is in Okubo, a suburb of Tokyo, and 
here Mrs. McCauley lives, so as to be like a mother to the 
girls under her care. 

She helps too, in advising the work of the Leper Home. 

But the hours she spends in her kindergarten and two pri- 
mary schools, are the hours of all her busy days that are of 
special interest to you. A Japanese kindergarten is just about 
the prettiest sight to be found in any country. The tiny chil- 
children in their bright little kimonos, are like lovely flowers 
or butterflies. If these dear children while so young, are 
taught of Jesus and His love, they will never be able to re- 
member the time when they did not know Him. 

There are between 450 and 500 little girls and boys in the 
two primary schools—the Tsukiji and the Shiba—to which 
you send your money. The Tsukiji is for very poor children. 
The homes of many of them are only fishing-boats, and their 
parents can not pay more than two and _ one-half cents a 
month for their tuition. The teachers visit all the homes, each 
teacher going to those of her own class. In this way they 
find out the circumstances of each one and are often able 
to help in cases of need. The school lasts but four hours a 
day, one of which is given to Bible study. The pupils are 
always polite and obedient to their teachers, and the school 
is very orderly. The Shiba school is about three miles from 
the Tsukiji, so Mrs. McCauley has a long way to go from her 
home to the first one and then the other. The head teacher 
of each school is a Church officer. They are good, faithful 
men, giving their time and strength to the work, and each 
has one or two teachers under him. 

The kindergarten is connected with the Shiba school. The 
parents of these children are able to pay more tuition. They 
send their girls and boys with the clear understanding that 
they are likely to become Christians, and with full consent. 
The school has both a senior and junior Christian Endeavor 
Society among its pupils, with meetings held once a week. 
Mrs. McCauley has oversight of both schools, and visits both 
each day, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 45 


Think what it means not only to the children, but to their 
parents as well, to have them in these Christian schools. Mrs. 
McCauley says that each child becomes a little evangelist 
when he goes home, for he tells his mother all that has hap- 
pened that day in school. He tells his father also, his grand- 
mother, and all in the family; and often, by the blessing of the 
Holy Spirit, the wonderful truths of the Gospel sink deep 
into their hearts, and they too, are won to a saving faith 
in the Saviour. Will you not remember this when you pray 
for Mrs. McCauley and your schools in Tokyo? And will you 
not ask our Heavenly Father so to bless the gifts you send 
towards this work that more little children may learn to love 
and accept Jesus as their Saviour, and that through their in- 
fluence many of their parents also may be won to Him? 

Dearly as the Japanese love their beautiful country, the 
time comes for each one when he must leave it, to go—unless 
he be a Christian—he knows not where. Shall we not tell 
these people that we know of a still more Beautiful Land, 
lovelier far than fair Japan? A Heavenly Country, where all 
is joy and gladness; where there is neither sorrow, pain, nor 
death; and no night, for the Lamb is the light thereof, and 
it is endless day. That the dear Lord has gone to this 
Heavenly Home to prepare a place for all who love Him; 
and that if only they will accept Him as their Saviour they 
shall live with Him for ever and ever, and rejoice in beauty 
greater than any their eyes have ever seen or their hearts 
imagined. This is the glorious news that our missionaries— 
your Mrs. McCauley among them—are spending their lives 
proclaiming there in Japan; and by your prayers and Als gifts 
you have a share in the work 


QUESTIONS ON LESSON STORY. 


Where is Japan, and of what is the country composed? 

. With which of our States does it compare’in size? 
What is the number of inhabitants? 

What can you tell of the customs and life of the people? 
. What are the religions of the land? 

. What building in Kyoto is especially for children? 


An kwon 


46 


ie.) 


Le 
12. 
133 
14. 


15. 
16. 
Ay: 
18. 
19. 
. In what way do the pupils become little e-angelists in 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


Who was the first Protestant Missionary to Japan? 


. When did he go there and how was he received? 
. What is the Church of Christ in Japan? 
10. 


How many Missions has our Presbyterian Church? Name 
them. 


In which are you especially interested? Why? 

What are the three stations of the Eastern Japan Mission? 

How large a city is Tokyo, and where is it? 

How many churches has it? Sabbath-schools? Boarding 
and day schools? 

How many Missionaries have we there now? 

Which one of them do you call your missionary? 

Where does Mrs. McCauley live, and what is her work? 

Which two day schools do you help to support? 

What can you tell of their work? 


their homes? 


Programme for Meeting on Africa 


Singing—“The Morning Light is Breaking.” 


Scripture Reading in Concert— John 10: 1-16. 
Prayer. 
Singing— “I Gave My Life for Thee.” 


Lesson Story. 


Recitation— “Christian, Harken! none has taught 
them,” 1 


Singing—“There are lands for away o’er the Sea,”!1 
Questions and Answers on Lesson Story. 

Roll Call— (Responses: Animals of Africa.) 
Singing— “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains.” 


The Lord’s Prayer. 


1 “Africa for Juniors.” p. 62. 
11 ‘‘China for Juniors,” 


LESSON V.—AFRICA. 


COUNTRY. 


In the Eastern Hemisphere, south of Europe and southwest of 
Asia, lies one of the five grand divisions of the earth. This is 
Africa—and it contains nearly one-fourth of all the land surface 
of the globe. It is five thousand miles long and in its broadest 
part, nearly five thousand miles wide. About two hundred mil- 
lion people inhabit this great land, but when compared in size 
with China or India, it will be found to be far less densely popu- 
lated than either of these two countries. 

In shape Africa is somewhat like South America, and almost 
completely surrounded by water. The Atlantic Ocean sweeps 
its entire western coast; the Indian Ocean and Red Sea its east- 
ern shore; and it is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean 
Sea. Around the entire coast is a flat strip of country. anywhere 
from fifty to two hundred miles wide. Its greatest width is along 
the northern coast. where it stretches far inland, and here is 
found the Sahara Desert. The low coast land is very unhealth- 
ful, not only on account of the extreme heat, but because of the 
large amount of moisture in the air. Foreigners find it very try- 
ing, and are obliged to be most careful in order to keep well 
and be able to carry on their work. Back of this low strip of 
land the country rises, sometimes abruptly and again more grad- 
ually, to a height of three or four thousand feet. thus forming 
nearly the entire continent into a great table land or plateau. 
This plateau is not a perfect level. In some places it rises into 
mountain peaks so high that their tops are continually covered 
with snow and ice. The two largest of these are Kilimanjaro 
and Kenia. Towards the middle of the plateau the land is de- 
pressed into numerous hollows which, filled with water from 
springs away up among the mountains, become beautiful lakes. 
The African name for lake is nyanza. 

Some of these lakes are the source of Africa’s three greatest 
rivers. The Nile flows from Albert Nyanza and Victoria Nyanza 
and empties, two thousand or more miles to the north, into the 
Mediterranean Sea. The Zambesi, whose source is also Victoria 
Nyanza, travels in a southeasterly ‘direction to the Indian Ocean. 
The Congo, rising in Lake Tanganyika and flowing to the west, 
empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The fourth largest river of the 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 49 


country is the Niger, which has its source in the highlands of the 
western portion of the land, and enters the Atlantic some dis- 
tance north of the Congo. 


Nearly the whole of Africa is in the torrid zone, as the equator 
runs through almost the center of the country. The Sahara, 
somewhat to the north of the equator, is the hottest part of the 
land, and there is-another desert called Kilihari, where the heat 
is also extreme. Not all of Africa is hot as this. On the slopes 
rising from the low lands, on the plateau and in the mountains, 
the climate is delightful. There are two seasons of the year,— 
the wet and the dry. The rainy season lasts from about the 
middle of September until the middle of May, wich an interval 
of dry weather during December and January. The remaining 
months from May to September are the dry season. 


There is much to make the natural scenery exceedingly beau- 
tiful. Splendid mountains and lakes; rivers with wonderful 
waterfalls and cataracts along their courses; tall graceful palms 
and other varieties of trees, many of them thickly festooned with 
vines; and soil so fertile that there are few fruits or vegetables 
known. which could not be raised somewhere in the country, 


Gorgeous birds are found in the forests. among others the 
bright scarlet parrots, so gay among the green of the foliage. 


No country is more enjoyed than Africa, by the hunter of 
wild animals. There he finds the elephant, zebra, rhinoceros, 
hippotamus, lion, tiger, giraffe, all varieties of monkeys, and 
many other beasts. The rivers are full of crocodiles; ostriches 
and antelopes are found on the plains; camels in the deserts. 
There are dangerous snakes and reptiles of many kinds, and 
insects, one of which, the white ant is especially troublesome. 
This ant destroys anything made of wood, often eating away the 
piles on which the houses are raised. 


In the south of Africa rough wagons, drawn by oxen, have 
long been used as means of travel; the Mediterranean states have 
horses; camels are used in the Sahara. But in the great inter- 
ior of the country, the only mode of transportation is either by 
canoes or small boats on the rivers and streams, or by native 
carriers,——men who travel the narrow paths through the forests 
and up and down the mountains, carrying the freight on their 
heads. The time is coming when Africa, like other nations, will 
have all the civilized modes of travel, and even now Cape Colony 
has many hundred miles of railroad. 


The land is rich in minerals which, with ivory, rubber, gold- 


50 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


dust, dye-woods, palm-oils, coffee and cocoa, form its principal 
exports. 


Cassava, yams, okra, and other vegetables are raised, also 
sugar cane. Fish is abundant, and many wild animals are caught 
for food. 


PEOPLE. 


Africa is divided into many states or territories, each inhabi- 
ted by such a different race of people that we must take a glance 
at each if we would have an idea of the country as it now is. 
Bordering on both the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and stretch- 
ing south and westward into the Sahara is Egypt, the oldest 
known country of the world. You girls and boys remember how 
it is connected with Bible history from the time of the Patri- 
archs down to the Acts of the Apostles. Its rulers were called 
Pharaohs, and it is the land of the Nile, the pyramids and the 
Sphinx. 

The Egyptians were finally conquered by the Phoenicians from 
Syria, and a great colony was founded called Carthage. The 
Carthagenians soon ruled all the western half of the northern 
coast of Africa. From time to time wars occurred between this 
people and the Romans, and at last in 202 B. C.—in the great bat- 
tle of Zana, Hannibal, a Carthagenian general, was taken by the 
Roman general, Publius Cornelius Scipio. Egypt and Northern 
Africa became a part of the Roman Empire, and in honor of his 
victory, Scipio was called Scipio Africanus. The Romans ruled 
the land until in the seventh century they, in turn, were con- 
quered by the Mohammedans. Egypt is now under British rule. 

South of Egypt is the fertile plateau of Abyssinia. In Bible 
times this was known as Ethiopia, and the descendants of the 
Ethiopians still rule the land, and claim that their present ruler 
is a direct descendant of the Queen of Sheba. 

The States bordering on the Mediterranean Sea are in- 
habited mostly by Arabs; and the Sahara, by wandering Berber 
and Arab tribes. 

In the latter part of the fifteenth century many exploring ex- 
peditions to Africa were made by the Portugese By the year 
1500 they had settled at the extreme southern point of the coun- 
try, now called Cape Colony; in the Congo district on the West 
coast; and on the East coast as far north as Cape Guardafui. 
The Dutch and English soon followed the Portugese, and more 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 51 


of the coast land was discovered and taken. The native tribes 
found in the extreme south were Hottentots and Bushmen. 


Nothing had yet been discovered of all the vast interior ;— 
nearly the whole of the great continent. The natives found on 
the eastern and western coasts were of the Negro race, but what 
other tribes and peoples there might be, no one could tell; 
nor what the country was like. It was filled with wild and 
terrible beasts, which made it most dangerous to explore; and 
there was besides, a dreadful illness called the African fever 
which proved almost fatal to any European travelling in the 
interior. So it was not until within the last fifty or sixty years 
that we have come to know, through the discoveries of the 
famous African explorers and missionaries, of the interior of 
this wonderful continent. The histories of the lives and travels 
of John Ludwig Krapf, Rebmann, Burton, Speke, David Living- 
stone, Stanley, and many others are full of thrilling interest, and 
it is hoped that our Band and Junior girls and boys will come 
to know them well. From their explorations we learn that the 
Negro nations are found on the western coast and throughout 
the Soudan, or country between the Sahara and the equator. 
The people south of the equator and reaching from there to 
the Hottentots of the extreme south, are the Bantu race. The 
Zulus, Kaffirs and other tribes belong to this people. They have 
lighter skins and more regular features than the Negroes. 

As the mission work of our Presbyterian Church is among 
the Negroes, they claim our greatest interest. Let us learn 
something of their customs and life. They are strange looking 
people, with dark brown skins, sometimes almost black, bright 
black eyes, white teeth, and tight curly black hair. The part 
of the country where they live is so hot that they wear but 
little clothing. The dress of both men and women consists of 
one piece of cloth three or four yards in length, which is fast- 
ened securely around the waist, or just below the arms, and 
reaches to the knees. Around the edge of this cloth is sewed 
a broad band of some contrasting color, and then the costume 
is completed! The people are fond of bright colors, and like 
to buy gay Chinese and Japanese goods for these dresses, from 
traders on the coast. The children wear no clothing at all until 
they are big girls and boys, and then they use this same cos- 
tume. Men, women and children all wear braclets and anklets 
made of ivory, copper or brass, and quantities of bright colored 
beads around their necks. 


52 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


The houses are built of bamboo, without windows or chimney. 
The roofs are thatched with plantain leaves. Each woman has 
her own apartment, joining the husband’s larger hut. The 
household utensils are few and very primitive. No cooking 
stoves are used, the food being prepared upon open wood-fies. 


The huts are built in villages, often surrounded by a stock- 
ade for protection against wild beasts, or hostile tribes. The 
old men of a village have a certain authority, and one of them 
is apt to be chosen as judge or king. All difficulties are brought 
to him, the different parties talking over the disputed matter 
before him. These gatherings are called Palavers, and are held 
between different tribes, as well as inhabitants of single villages. 


The men spend much time in hunting wild animals. They 
either drive the game into inclosures built for the purpose, 
where they are killed by shooting, or spearing with long handled 
spears, or else catch them in snares. Buffaloes, elephants, ante- 
lopes, porcupines and all kinds of monkeys are eaten by the 
natives. Most of the gardening or farming is done by the wo- 
men, on small plantations made from clearings in the forest. 
A long sharp knife is used for preparing the ground. Every- 
thing grows luxuriantly and with little care in that fertile land. 

Africa is one of the few heathen countries where a girl is as 
welcome in the home as a boy. Both mother and father love 
their babies, and try in their poor way to care for them as 
long as they are little and helpless. When they grow older 
they are apt to be neglected, for the father is away much of the 
time hunting, and the mother busy on the farm. They soon 
learn to look after themselves, and have not much to do but 
play. The boys have some light tasks, besides many errands 
to run; but a good part of the day is spent fishing in the brooks, 
shooting with bow and arrow at birds and small animals, learn- 
ing how to manage the long spears used so much by the men, 
setting traps in the forests, making toy canoes, etc. When old- 
er, they join the men in hunts for wild animals, are taught to 
make real canoes, and learn the different trades in which the 
men engage. 

Little girls have less leisure than boys, but they also spend 
much time in play. They learn to manage the kitchen fire, and 
to cook little dishes for themselves, with which to play “house- 
keeping.” Often they go with their mothers to the plantations, 
which are generally one half to one mile from the village. 
They have but a short girlhood, for by the time they are twelve 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 53 


years old, and sometimes even less, they are married. The 
man whose wife the girl is to become, pays a certain sum of 
money, or “dowry” as it is called, to her father. This dowry 
is usually paid a little at a time, and when it is completed the 
man takes her to his own home. She is called his “little” wife, 
and as a rule he treats her kindly for awhile, to try and make 
her care for him. Even his other wives are apt to be good to 
her, for they find her very useful as a small servant to do part 
of their work. But it is a sad, hard life for the little girl, and 
she longs for her old home, poor as it may have been, and the 
freedom she has lost. 


There are no native schools, so the children are brought up 
in great ignorance. 


One of the African tribes on the western coast are dwarfs. 
Queer little people,—the grown men and women under five feet 
in height, and such funny, wee girls and boys! They are a very 
timid people, hiding away their villages in the dense forests, 
with no roads leading to them to show where they may be 
found. It has been hard for our missionaries to win their con- 
fidence; but they can be brought to a faith in the Saviour, as 
surely as any other heathen tribe, and a work has already been 
started among them at our Lolodorf Station. 


Ivory has always been one of the chief exports of Africa, and 
the securing of this ivory has led to one of the most cruel and 
terrible practices ever carried on in any country in the world. 
This is the Slave Trade. The Arabs had great hunting grounds 
in Central Africa, where herds of elephants and hippopotami 
are found; and when they had gathered quantities of the ivory, 
how do you suppose they carried it down to the eastern coast? 
It is almost too sad a tale to tell. These wild Arabs would 
suddenly descend upon some African village, and capture the 
entire inhabitants,—men, women and children. Then loading 
them with the heavy burdens, and killing all who tried to escape, 
they would set fire to the village, and start the poor captives 
on the cruel march to the sea. Sometimes several villages 
would be captured at the same time, and there would be great 
caravans of slaves on their way to the large slave-market at 
Zanzibar. Hundreds of old people, little children, and the sick 
and infirm, would be left dead or dying along the route, and this 
was the greatest blessing that could come to them. 

It would be terrible enough if this frightful slave trade had 
been carried on only by the Arabs. It is worse still to find 


54 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


another great slave-market at Lagos, on the western coast, and 
to know that it was managed not by Mohammedan Arabs, but 
by the Portugese and, later on, by the English! Think of 
ships of two Christian nations, carrying thousands and thous- 
ands of poor African slaves, to work on plantations in the 
American Colonies and the West Indies! 

Such a frightful trade could not be allowed to go on forever, 
—the people of these Christian governments would not per- 
mit it, and after a long, hard fight the end of slave hunting 
came, and no Christian nation now allows slavery within its 
borders. First the Portugese, in 1807, abolished their slave 
trade on the western coast. Then in 1861 the British Govern- 
ment closed its great slave-market at Lagos. The Arab slave 
trade was more difficult to abolish, but finally by the year 1895 
even that was accomplished, by the heroic labors of the British 
Government. So now neither on the eastern nor western coast, 
nor in the far interior, is this cruel, wicked practice carried on, 
and the poor natives are free from the constant dread of the 
slave-hunter. 

But have they now nothing left to fear? Ah, yes! Their 
whole lives, from the time they are children, are spent in the 
superstition and terror of a heathen religion, more dreadful to 
bear than even the cruelties of the slave trade. Let us see what 
it can be. 


RELIGION. 


This religion is called Fetichism. It is a belief in a Creator 
who made the world, and then left it entirely to the mercy of 
evil spirits and demons. The people have no temples nor 
priests, but sacrifices and gifts are offered constantly to the 
evil spirits, and prayers said to them in the hope of preventing 
them from causing danger and death. Every man, woman and 
child wears a Fetich, to warn off these spirits. Fetiches are 
made from any object, such as a stone, shell, or piece of bone, 
by taking it to a fetich-doctor who puts a good spirit into it! 
The evil spirits are supposed to dwell in rocks and stones, in 
streams and forests, in plants, flowers, and every where. 

Then there is Ukuku, a departed spirit, especially dreadful 
to women and children. I do not think the men really believe 
in him, for they have a secret society named after him, which 
they use for frightening the poor women. When the cry is 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 55 


raised: “Ukuk is coming!” every woman must run and hide her- 
self for fear she might catch sight of him, when she would be 
put to death. The men appoint some one to hide in a thicket 
and shout out laws, which they say Ukuku utters, and which 
must be obeyed by everyone. 

But Uvengwa is even more terrible than Ukuku, for he is 
supposed to be a man-leopard! It is believed that certain hu- 
man beings can assume the form of leopards, and be able to 
kill their enemies. In many lonely places wicked men com- 
mit murder, and then press their fists and knuckles in the mud 
near by, to look like the leopard’s “tracks.” 

Anyone dying a natural death is thought to have been be- 
witched, for the natives believe in witchcraft. Some poor per- 
son is picked out as the witch, and is put to death either by 
deadly poison or in some other dreadful way. 

You will not wonder that Africa has been called the Dark 
Continent, not only on account of its being so long unexplored, 
but because of all these terrible beliefs and practices of the 
natives. Nor will you be surprised that ever since the first 
missionaries went there and found the poor people living in 
such superstition and fear, Christian men and women have been 
willing to risk not only health, but life itself, in order to carry 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a land so sadly in need of the 
glad tidings of a Saviour. 


MISSIONS. 


David Livingstone will always be remembered as one of the 
world’s greatest missionaries. He was a medical missionary 
and a famous explorer, as many African missionaries have been. 
It was during his long, hard journeys into the interior—un- 
dertaken in order to win the natives to Jesus Christ—that he 
saw the horrors of the Arab slave-trade; and it was due largely 
to his efforts, that the British Government was finally led to 
use force in putting it down. 

Livingston was only one, however, of a long line of Protestant 
missionaries who have lived and labored for the spreading of 
the Gospel in that great land. The Moravians in 1737, started 
at Gnadenthal near the Cape of Good Hope, the first Protestant 
mission. Scotch and English missionary societies, and others 
from the Continent sent missionaries to many parts of the 
country south of the Zambesi. In 1835 the American Board be- 


56 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


gan work among the Zulus; soon Stations were opened on the 
western coast by American and English societies; and on 
Mombasa, a small island off the eastern coast, Rebmann and 
John Ludwig Krapf started their work. Missions are now 
carried on in many places along the Congo River and in Uganda 
and other regions around the great lakes. American and Eng- 
lish missionaries are at work in Egypt and on the upper Nile, 
and a few in the Mediterranean States, all laboring among the 
Mohammedans who control nearly the entire northern half of 
Africa. There are now forty missionary societies working in 
the country, with more than three thousand American and Euro- 
pean missionaries. But there are vast regions of the land where 
as yet few or no missionaries have labored, and millions of 
men, women and little children who have never been told of 
God’s love, and salvation through Jesus Christ. 

Our Presbyterian Church has supported two Missions in 
Africa, both on the western coast, within the torrid zone. The 
first was called the Liberia Mission, and work was begun there 
in 1833. Liberia is a Republic, entirely in the hands of the 
Negioes. It is composed largely of Negro colonies from the 
United States, and its Government is formed upon the model 
of our own. The Liberia Mission was carried on until 1899, 
when its churches and schools were transferred to the native 
Church. 


WEST AFRICAN MISSION. 


This second Mission was known at first as “The Gaboon and 
Corisco Mission,” as its work was begun in 1850, on Corisco 
Island. It has now the following eight Stations: 


West African Mission. 


Angom Efulen 

Baraka Elat 

Benito MacLean Memorial at Lolodorf 
Batanga Metet 


There are thirteen churches with 2,254 communicants, Sab- 
bath-schools, three hospitals and one dispensary, boarding and 
day schools, and industrial work. Forty foreign missionaries, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 57 


men and women, are in charge of this Mission, assisted by 
eighty-three native helpers, two of whom are ordained ministers. 
For several years past your interest has centered in Baraka, 
which is on the Gaboon River, ten miles from the sea. It was 
to and from this Station that your steam launch “Dorothy” 
made her trips. At present this little launch is out of com- 
mission, and in the meantime your gifts are to help in the work 
of Elat Station, where there is much of interest for both girls 
and boys. 


ELAT STATION. 


Elat is one hundred and ninety-five miles northeast of Baraka; 
one hundred and seventeen miles inland from the coast; two 
miles from Ebolowo’e, the nearest large town. It is a Station 
of one hundred and thirty-six acres, beautifully situated on 
rising ground, well supplied with springs of clear water, and 
with a soil which produces almost every variety of fruit and 
vegetables native to Africa. There are fine gardens of plan- 
tains, toro, cassava, corn and peanuts, which the boys of the 
Elat school are taught to cultivate. There are hundreds of fruit 
bearing trees on the property, pear, orange, paw paw, and 
others. Also one acre of pine-apples, and ten of pine trees. 
The boys are trained in the raising of cattle. 


The Station has a church, a hospital, homes for the mission- 
aries, and two schools,—one for women and girls, and the other 
for men and boys. Besides regular lessons in reading, writing, 
and other studies such as you have, the girls are taught sewing 
and housework, and the boys carpentry and tailoring. The 
carpentry class makes beautiful tables and chairs, for which 
native traders send from far in the interior; and the tailoring 
class receives more orders than it can fill. 


So the boys and girls of these Elat schools are trained to be- 
come useful men and women; and, best of all, they learn of the 
love of Jesus Christ, and accepting Him as their Savior, they 
go out from the schools carrying the Gospel message to their 
own tribes and peoples. The training of these African children 
is the blessed work in which, by your prayers and gifts, you 
girls and boys are privileged to have a share. 


58 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


QUESTIONS ON LESSON STORY. 


. Which one of the five grand divisions of the earth are we 


now studying? 


. What is the shape and size of Africa? 


3. What is the number of its inhabitants? 


> 


OM NDA mw 


13. 
14. 
15; 
16. 


. Why is the interior of the country less hot than some other 


tropical lands? 


. Which are its four large rivers? 


Is it a fertile country? 
What two portions of the land are deserts? 


Why is it an interesting country for hunters? 


. Which division of the land is the oldest known country? 

. In which portion of the land are you especially interested? 
11 
LW 


To what race do the natives belong? 


What two Missions has our Presbyterian Church carried on 
there? 


Which of the two has it now? 
How many Stations has the West African Mission? 
To which one of these do you contribute? 


What can you tell of Elat Station and its work? 


Programme for Meeting on Siam and The Laos 


Singing— “I Love to Tell the Story.” 
Prayer. Scripture Reading. ! 
Singing— “Children’s Mission Hymn.” 


Lesson Story. 


Map Exercise—(Locating Laos Mission by Placing 
gilt paper stars on Stations). 


Singing—“Someone must go to the far-off lands.” 11 
Questions and Answers on Lesson Story. 


March—(Each child drop offering into plate while 
passing desk). 


Prayer after Offering. 
Singing— “Once again, Dear Lord, we pray.”.111 


The Lord’s Prayer. 


1 ‘‘The Bible in the Mission Band.’’ 
11 ‘‘Missionary Songs.”’ 
111 ‘‘China for Juniors.” 


LESSON VI.—SIAM AND THE LOAS 


COUNTRY. 


“The Land of the White Elephant!’ A strange name for a 
country is it not? Yet this is what Siam—the land of which we 
are now to study—is often called. Later on we shall see why 
this is so, but first let us find out in what part of the world 
the country lies. Indo China, or Farther India, is in the ex- 
treme south-east corner of Asia, and Siam occupies nearly this 
entire region. On the north it is bounded by China, on the 
south by the Gulf of Siam and the China Sea, on the east by 
French Indo China, and on the west by Burmah. The name 
“Siam” comes from a Sanscript word meaning “ the brown” 
race, but the natives call the land Mttang Ti, the country of 
the free. 

It is not a large country, as it contains little more than 200,- 
000 square miles. It is composed mainly of a low plain stretch- 
ing northward about four hundred miles. Four great rivers 
run through this plain, and annually overflowing their banks, 
prepare the soil for the cultivation of rice, which is one of the 
two great industries of the land. Beyond this plain the coun- 
try becomes mountainous, and still further north descends 
again into low, level land. This northern plain, and the beau- 
tiful valleys among the mountains, are the home of the Laos 
people, of whom we are to learn more particularly. 

The climate is like a perpetual summer, with fruit and 
flowers, green grass and leafy trees, the whole year round. 
Though not as unhealthful as some tropical regions, it is never- 
theless very trying, as there are no changes to make it easier to 
bear. The dry season lasts from November to May and dur- 
ing this time it is somewhat cooler than during the wet season 
of the other six months, but even then it is like our hot sum- 
mer weather. 

The natural scenery of the country is beautiful, especially 
among the well-watered ravines and fertile valleys of the 
mountains. Ferns and palms and fragrant flowers, graceful 
bamboo and ground-orchids give a variety of color and beauty 
to the landscape, which is made still more attractive by the 
mountain streams. The rivers become wild and turbulent dur- 
ing their course through the mountains; and along the Menam, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 61 


which is the chief river, are forty or more very dangerous 
rapids. Siam has splendid forests, with numerous varieties of 
trees, from the cotton-tree growing from the moist soil of the 
river bottoms, to the teak-wood away up on the rocky mountain 
peaks. The teak is the most valuable of all the timber, and 
the source of the country’s greatest wealth. This makes lum- 
bering the other chief industry of the land. Orchids, which as 
you know are air-plants, grow luxuriantly in the clefts of the 
forest trees, adding gorgeous color to the dark green of the 
foliage; and here, as in Africa, the woods are filled with par- 
rots and other birds of gay plumage. 

The wild animals of Siam are similar to those of India and 
Africa. The tiger, bear, rhinoceros, elephant, and monkey are 
found in the forests, and crocodiles in the rivers. Centipedes, 
snakes and other reptiles abound throughout the land, even 
finding their way into the houses. The Siamese have the same 
domestic animals that we have here in America,—horses and 
cattle, dogs, cats, pigs, and all kinds of fowls. Besides these, 
they train for use two of the wild animals, one for each of the 
great industries. One of these is the caribou or water buffalo, 
a clumsy looking animal with a big body and short legs and 
horns. For three hours or so in the early morning and again 
in the evening, he is used to pull the plow and harrow in the 
rice fields. Through the heat of the day he is allowed to rest, 
and is left in the care of tiny girls and boys. Though often 
fierce with grown people, he seems fond of his little guardians, 
and will let them climb upon his broad back and ride him down 
to the water, where both he and they have fine baths in the 
cool, though often muddy streams. The second wild animal 
trained to be of use is the elephant, and the great lumber in- 
dustry would be almost impossible without his help. The larg- 
est elephants in the world are those found in the forests of the 
Laos states. Clumsy as they seem, they are very sure-footed, 
and climb up and down the mountain paths, hauling the heavy 
logs to the streams to be floated. They are wonderfully clever 
in breaking up the jams which form sometimes in the streams, 
and setting the logs free. For many years elephants were used 
by all Siamese and Laos, even the poorer classes, but now that 
so many are needed for the lumber business, they have be- 
come too expensive to be owned by any but the very wealthy. 
The natives have a great reverence for this animal, and the 
national flag is a white elephant on a red ground. It is be- 
cause of this reverence, that the country is called “the Land 


62 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


of the White Elephant.” There are no actually white elephants, 
but what the natives call such, and hold is high esteem, are a 
yellowish-brown, appearing white only in contrast with the 
ordinary dark gray or brown ones. When one of these light 
elephants is found, he is brought to the capital with great re- 
joicing and pomp, even the king himself, going out to meet him. 
A stable of his own is given to him, where attendants bring 
him the choicest food on gold and silver trays. Gold bands are 
put upon his tusks, and he is fastened to a gilded post, while 
over the door of his stable is printed in letters of gold, the 
title of nobility which has been given to him. The people do 
not actually worship him, but they come pretty near to it, do 
they not? 

Siam has as many water-ways as roads, and much of the 
travelling and trade is done by boat on the rivers and canals. 
The long hard journey north on the Menam river to the Laos 
country, is a trip of nearly six weeks; but now a railroad jour- 
ney of two days from Bangkok, the capital of Siam, to Pitsan- 
uloke two hundred miles to the north, and an overland trip of 
eight to twelve days, makes a much shorter route. The rail- 
road is to be continued to Chieng Mai, the capital of the Laos 
states. In the northern part of Siam elephants are still used 
as means of conveyance, and ponies are raised for the 
same purpose, while in the south of the country horses 
and sedan-chairs are also used. Boats, pack-horses, bullocks, 
and elephants carry the freight, and much is borne by men- 
carriers, who travel long distances with heavy loads in baskets 
over their shoulders. 

Pepper, tobacco, sugar-cane, cotton and indigo are raised in 
the land; also pineapples, bananas, oranges, guavas, tamarinds 
and other fruits. Rice is the principal food production, how- 
ever, and the people live largely upon this, and upon the fish 
with which the rivers abound. 

The land is not rich in minerals. Little gold, silver or iron is 
found and no coal. The principal exports are rice and teak 
wood. 


PEOPLE. 


Siam has, including the Laos, a population of some nine mil- 
lions. These people belong to the Tai race, which two thous- 
and years ago inhabited the southern part of China. They are 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 63 


an entirely distinct race from the Chinese, with whom they often 
made war, and by whom, in 250 B. C., they were largely crowd- 
ed out from the country. Moving southward they settled 
throughout the whole of Indo China. Some, mixing with the 
Malays and other races, became the Siamese, occupying the 
southern half of Siam. Those who settled in the mountains 
and plains of northern Siam came in contact with no other 
race, and remain to this day the same in blood and language as 
when they left their home in the north so many hundred years 
ago. They still call themselves Tai, or The Free, but are 
known to us as the Laos. The original inhabitants of the land 
were driven into the hills, where they are tributary to the 
Siamese and Laos, and are known as Ka (slave) in distinction 
to Tai (free). 

Siam since the year 1350 has been an absolute monarchy, 
which means that power of every kind is intrusted to the king. 
There is an assembly of the nobles of the land, for choosing 
the king’s successor. If they prefer some one other than his 
son, they are at liberty to choose him, but the Crown Prince 
usually comes to the throne. Until 1885 Siam always had two 
kings. The second king had his palace, courtiers and officers, 
but was simply an adviser of the first king, and not his suc- 
cessor unless so chosen. After the death of the late second 
king in 1885, the office was abolished. King Chulalongkorn 
I., the present ruler, ascended the throne in 1868, at the age 
of fifteen. His father, the late king Pra Chaumklow, gained 
through the influence of American missionaries, many liberal 
ideas, and his son is one of the ablest and most advanced mon- 
archs of the East. The Laos people until 1828 were ruled by 
their own princes, and simply paid tribute to the king of Siam. 
After that they became more and more subject to his rule, 
until twenty years ago a Siamese commissioner was appointed 
to each province, and by 1902 the Laos had become a part of 
the Siamese kingdom. In some ways it is hard for the Laos 
to be so largely under Siamese control. In many other respects 
it is greatly for their benefit, especially in ridding them from 
the fear of what was known as “dacoity,” or raids by robber 
bands from the mountains of eastern Burmah. Companies of 
these bandits would descend upon some peaceful Laos villages, 
capture the men, women and children for slaves, carry off the 
cattle, and leave the village in flames. These captives were 
not as a rule treated cruelly, for they were usually given homes 
of their own, and land to cultivate, but they were under Bur- 


64 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


mese control, and naturally longed for the home and land from 
which they had been carried away. Sometimes these raids 
were made by the Siamese as well as the Burmese, but now that 
the Laos are a part of Siam their life and property are more 
secure. King Chulalongkorn I. has done much for the benefit 
of all the people both Siamese and Laos. He has abolished 
slavery, founded schools for both girls and boys, and established 
a good postal system. In 1905 he took away the licenses from 
all gambling-houses. This was a brave act, for it angered 
many of his people, and the loss of the licenses deprived him of 
a good part of his revenue. There are telephones and tele- 
graphs in the land, electricity in the larger cities, and many 
public buildings. 

The Siamese have a brown skin and coarse, straight black 
hair. The men shave their heads, leaving only a round tuft 
of hair on the top, about four inches in diameter. While they 
are children, this is allowed to grow and is done up in a knot, 
but when they become men it is kept about an inch long, and 
brushed straight up on end. The women, especially the Laos, 
have long smooth black hair which they comb back from the 
forehead and arrange in a graceful knot at the back of the head. 
While unmarried, they wear a flower in their hair. The Siam- 
ese men and women, and the Laos men all wear the same 
costume. It is simply a piece of calico three yards long and a 
yard wide, which is tied round the middle of the body and 
fastened in such a way into the waist at the back, as to form 
loose, baggy trousers. The legs and feet are left bare. Former- 
ly a scarf or shawl was worn on the upper part of the body, 
but now both men and women wear a straight, white jacket of 
cotton or calico. The Laos women wear this same jacket, or 
the scarf, but in place of the waist-cloth they have a scant 
skirt with horizontal stripes. A stripe broader than the rest, 
and often richly embroidered, is inserted near the bottom, The 
girls and boys dress like their parents, but do not wear their 
little white jackets while at home. The women are fond of 
jewelry; and men, women and children all have their ears 
pierced, the girls and boys often wearing flowers in the holes 
instead of ear-rings, and sometimes sticking their cigarrettes 
through them. One of the bad customs of the land allows even 
tiny girls and boys to smoke cigarrettes, and chew the betel- 
nut. King Chulalongkorn I. now requires all his courtiers to 
wear the whole European dress, except that they still keep the 
waist-cloth. 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 65 


The native houses are built of bamboo, the high, pointed 
roofs are covered with thatch. About half or three-quarters 
of the house is entirely enclosed by walls, while the remainder 
has but three walls, and is like a large piazza. The family sleep 
in the enclosed room, and use the more open one for the 
dining and living room. There is little furniture, and that of 
the simplest. The floor is covered with coarse mats, over which 
are sometimes laid handsomer rugs. At night mattresses, 
filled with cotton from the cotton-wood tree, are placed on the 
floor. Cotton stuffed pillows, cotton blankets and warm com- 
fortables compose the bedding, and in the daytime the beds are 
rolled up and laid away. No chairs are used, except among 
those who try to imitate foreign customs. As the living-room 
is closed in on only three sides, windows are needed simply in 
the bed-room, and no house has more than one or two. There 
is always one, called the spirit-window, through which any 
spirit can leave who may have ascended the ladder and entered 
the house. <A_ shelf, or spirit-shrine, is found in every 
house, on which offerings to the spirits are placed. The 
cooking is done over a fire built in a fire-place made of a wood- 
en frame filled with earth or sand. There is no chimney, and 
the smoke finds its way out through the kitchen door. The 
kitchen is generally under a separate roof, adjoining the living- 
room. The houses are set up on posts eight feet high, and are 
reached by means of ladders. This protects them from snakes 
and other reptiles, and also from floods in the rainy season. 
In the city of Bangkok thousands of people live in boat-houses, 
built of wood and placed on rafts of bamboo or teak. These 
rafts are fastened by rings to posts set fast in the river bed, 
the rings loose enough to enable the houses to rise and fall 
with the tide. 

During the wet season the chief occupation of both Siamese 
and Laos men, is the raising of rice on the low lands of southern 
Siam and in the valleys of the north. The women and children 
help in this work. The Laos farmers have heavier labor than 
the Siamese, for in the northern part of the land the rainfall 
is less abundant, and the rice fields have to be irrigated with 
water brought down from the mountains in ditches dug for 
the purpose. After the rice crop is gathered, the fields are 
used for raising other products. When the dry season comes 
the men gather in the mountains and for the next six months 
the great lumbering industry is at its height. The men are not 
all farmers and lumbermen, for there are many skillful carpen- 


66 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


ters and mechanics. Much fine pottery and lacquer ware is 
made, and clever work is done in gold, silver, and other metals. 
Some of the native wood carving, especially that of the Bud- 
dhist temples, is very beautiful. The women weave the finest 
of silk and cotton goods, and besides attending to household 
duties and making the family clothing, they spend much time 
sewing on robes for the priests. 


The Laos are a finer people than the Siamese, and in no other 
heathen country is there such happy home-life as that found 
among the mountain valleys and plains of northern Siam. In 
these homes the mother has the same honor shown her that 
the father has, and both are loved and obeyed by their children. 
The mother attends to the business affairs of the family. She 
buys the food and other supplies at the market in the early 
morning, and carries there any produce she may have for sale. 
Daughters are as eagerly welcomed in the home as sons, and as 
tenderly cared for. They are all required to help in the work of 
the house, and when older, in the rice fields, but find plenty of 
time for play. They early learn to care for themselves and 
to look after their baby sisters and brothers, and the boys begin 
their schooling when quite young. Kink Chulalongkorn I. has 
established schools for girls as well as boys, but formerly the 
only girls’ schools were those of our missions. The boys’ 
schools, called wats, were always in the Buddhists temples, 
and taught by the priests. The pupils learned reading, writing, 
simple arithmetic, and a little about their religion. They paid 
for their schooling by serving the priests. 


There is no child-marriage in the country, and Laos girls 
are seldom forced to marry against their will. At the wedding 
ceremony both families are present, and a sum of money is 
paid, as a “spirit-fine.” The bridegroom goes to live in the 
home of his bride, and must provide not only for her, but also 
for her relatives. In each family there is a sort of guardian, 
or family priest, who decides all business affairs. The girls and 
boys have their games and play, as children do in every land, 
but here, as in all heathen countries, the superstition and fear 
which come from their false religions, prevent their having the 
bright, happy lives that you Christian girls and boys enjoy. 
These can never be theirs until we tell them of the Saviour and 
His love for little children. 


iA, 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 67 


RELIGION. 


Early in the sixth century Buddhist priests from Ceylon car- 
ried their religion to Siam, and as no other of the religions 
of the East have been brought there, it has remained entirely a 
Buddhist country. You have already learned, from your other 
lessons, something of what this religion is. How its founder, 
Guatama, a prince of India, tired of the pleasures and luxuries 
of his court life, and spent six years in a mountain cave, thinking 
over questions of life and death. How he then preached and 
taught for forty-five years, the strange religion he had thought 
out; and was called “The Buddha,” or The “Enlightened One.” 
He denied that he was a god, and forbade the people to worship 
him, but they did worship him, and have done so ever since. 
The whole land of Siam from north to south is filled with 
idols, every one of which is of Buddha. Buddhism should not 
really be called a religion, for it acknowledges no Divine Being, 
and teaches that the world came into existence without a cre- 
ator. When a man dies, his soul is supposed to pass into some 
new-born human being, or some animal or insect, according to 
how much merit he had made during his life. Finally the soul 
passes into “Nirvana,” or eternal sleep. The great aim of a 
Buddhist’s life is to “make merit,” as it is called. Everything 
kind or good that a man does is for the purpose of gaining 
merit for himself. The best way to do this is to become a 
priest, or to place a son or grandson in a monastery and support 
him there. Sometimes if a family has no son the man and his 
wife will adopt one just for the sake of putting him in a monas- 
tery. The country is filled with Buddhist temples and monas- 
teries, some of which are very magnificent. The priests all 
shave their heads, and wear yellow robes. They are forbidden 
to work, and so are entirely supported by the gifts of the people. 
Every morning they start out, each with a “begging-bowl,” and 
stop before the houses while these bowls are filled with rice and 
other offerings. In this way enough food is secured to feed all 
the thousands of priests, and the only reward the people receive, 
is their muttered blessing. 

A religion which believes in no God above, to protect and 
care for His children, has no place for prayer, and no help and 
comfort for any of the people in their sorrow and need. So 
when their hearts long for someone or something, outside of 
themselves to turn to for help and strength—and God has plant- 
ed such a longing in the heart of all His children the world 


68 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


over—they become spirit-worshipers. So although Buddhism 
is the nominal religion of the land, the actual religion, especially 
among the Laos, is Spirit Worship. There is some belief in 
good spirits, but it is mostly in evil spirits and demons, who are 
always ready to harm them, and to whom prayers and offerings 
must constantly be made. This belief here, as in Africa, leads 
to the dreadful practice of witch-craft. When anyone becomes 
ill or dies, he is supposed to have been bewitched, and some 
one is chosen by the witch-doctor as the one who has worked the 
harm. This poor person is not killed, but is banished from his 
home, sometimes alone and sometimes with all his family. No 
other town likes to take in these spirit-people, as they are called, 
so they make homes for themselves in the mountains, where 
sometimes there will be whole villages of them. 

We are told by Rev. J. H. Freeman, and other Laos mission- 
aries, that Buddhism among this people, holds out one ray of 
light amid all its darkness. This is the belief that some day 
in the future there will come another “enlightened one,’ who 
shall save all who shall see his face. They are praying and 
longing for his coming; and this makes a very blessed oppor- 
tunity for the missionaries of Jesus Christ to tell them of the 
dear Saviour who so loved them that He was willing to give His 
life to save them from their sin, and to win for them life ever- 
lasting. The following account of our missions will show how 
gladly the Gospel message is being received by this people, and 
what joy and comfort it is bringing into their lives. 


MISSIONS. 


In 1828 two missionaries, one belonging to the Netherland 
Missionary Society, and the other to the London, went from 
their Stations in India, to Bangkok. China at that time was still 
closed to mission work, and it was chiefly to try and reach 
the Chinese that these two missionaries went to Siam. They 
became much interested in the Siamese, and began in Bangkok 
the first Protestant missionary work among that people. Be- 
fore three years had passed, ill health compelled them both 
to leave the country, but they had sent appeals for other work- 
ers to the Churches of America, and in 1831 the American 
Board sent a missionary to take up the work. Illness prevented 
his remaining more than a year and a half, but in 1833 the 
American Baptist Board organized the first permanent Mission 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 69 


in Siam. This Board continued its work until 1868, when it gave 
up work among the Siamese and confined itself to a mission 
among the Chinese in Siam. This work was finally given up 
also in 1884, but there are still a few small Baptist Churches 
among the Chinese in Bangkok. The American Board began 
work in Siam in 1834, which it continued until the opening of 
China to missionary effort in 1849, when it withdrew to that 
field. Our Presbyterian Church sent its first missionaries to 
Siam in 1840. There were Rev. and Mrs. Wm. P. Buell, sent 
out by the Board, through the influence of Rev. M. P. Oer, 
a Presbyterian missionary who had spent a month there in 1838, 
Our first Mission was established in Bangkok, in 1847. Our 
Board has now two Missions, the Siam and Laos, the former 
with four Stations, and the latter with six. 


Siam Mission. Laos Mission. 
Bangkok Chieng Mai 
Petchaburi Lakawn 
Nakawn Chieng Rai 
Pitsanuloke Pre 

Nan 

Keng Tung 


There are now eighty-four foreign missionaries working in 
these two Missions, both men and women, of whom thirteen 
are medical missionaries. Nearly one hundred and fifty native 
helpers assist in the work, six or more of whom are ordained 
ministers. There are about thirty organized churches, and over 
four thousand communicants. Evangelistic, Educational and 
Medical work is carried on, and the Bible and other literature 
is printed in the two mission presses. The Bangkok press 
prints in the Siamese language, and the Chieng Mai press in the 
Laos tongue. 

When our first Station was opened in 1847, the king of Siam 
did not like the Christian religion taught to his people, and 
made it very hard for our missionaries to carry on thei: work. 
This king died in 1851, and his successor, who had come to 
know something of missionaries, and to value what they were 
trying to do for his subjects, allowed them liberty to preach 
and teach as they wished. The present king, his son, though 
still holding to Buddhism as the State religion, is friendly to 


70 OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


our missionaries, and allows both the Siamese and Laos to ac- 
cept the Christian religion if they so desire. The Queen is 
also interested in our work, and built a woman’s ward for the 
hospital at Petchaburi. 


THE LAOS MISSION. 


It is this one of our two Missions in Siam, of which you 
girls and boys should learn particularly, for it is among the 
Laos people that your missionary, Miss Starling, has her home 
and work. This Mission has five Stations, the first begun at 
Chieng Mai in 1867, and the last opened at Keng Tung in 1903. 
There are churches and Sabbath-schools in the towns and vil- 
lages, schools of all grades for both girls and boys, hospitals, 
dispensaries, and a printing-press. Evangelistic and Medical 
Missionaries make long itinerating tours, and in this way reach 
many people who have never before heard the Gospel message. 


CHIENG MAI. 


The oldest of these six Stations, and the chief city of the 
Laos people, is Chieng Mai, on the Me Ping river, five hundred 
miles north-west of Bangkok. The population is over one 
hundred thousand. It was opened as a Station in 1867, bv 
Dr. and Mrs. McGilvary, and the work has grown until now 
there are nine organized churches, and nearly twice that num- 
ber of preaching places. Besides the foreign missionaries, three 
native ministers and a number of elders help in carrying on 
this work. A Boys’ Boarding School, begun in 1889, has now 
one hundred and fifty or more pupils. The Crown Prince of 
Siam laid the corner-stone of one of the buildings, and gave the 
school the name of the “Prince Royal College.” A small class 
of girls, taught by Mrs. McGilvary in her home, has now be- 
come a large boarding and day school. Besides regular lessons 
in the Laos language, English is also taught. There is an in- 
dustrial department, where the girls learn sewing, lace-making, 
weaving, etc. Training classes for native teachers and workers 
are connected with both these schools. The Phraner Memorial 


OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 71 


School is for little girls and boys, and there are primary schools 
also in most of the villages. The Mission press prints Bibles, 
Testament, and other books, a native Christian news-paper, 
and a monthly paper called the “Laos News.” The hospital and 
dispensary treat hundreds of patients yearly, and there is a 
work among lepers. 

It is to this busy, active Station that your new missionary, 
Miss Starling, has been appointed, and this will give to you 
girls and boys a special interest in all the work carried on there. 


MISS LUCY STARLING. 


Miss Starling’s home was in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She 
was educated in the public-schools and high-school of that 
city, and after graduating, went to “The Western,” Oxford, 
Ohio. Always devoted to the work of the Master, she was for 
three years State Superintendent of Christian Endeavor prison 
work. Wishing to give her life to labor on the foreign field, 
she applied to the Board of Foreign Missions, and was appointed 
to the Laos Mission. In the summer of 1909 she made the long 
journey to Siam, and is now a member of the Chieng Mai 
Station. The first two years of a missionary’s life in a foreign 
land, must be spent largely in learning the language. Miss 
Starling is still busy with this study, but even now finds many 
ways of helping in the work of the Station. Her longing to 
win for Jesus Christ, the people of this far away land to which 
she has gone, will surely be blessed by the Holy Spirit, to the 
saving of many souls. Remember her in your prayers and gifts. 

Do you know, girls and boys, that there is a reason why you, 
as loyal Presbyterians, should have a very special interest in 
our missions to the Siamese and Laos? In all the other coun- 
tries of which you have been studying, our Presbyterian Church 
shares the missionary work with other Protestant Churches, 
but the entire work in Siam is placed in our hands, and the re- 
sponsibility is our’s alone. If we do not bring the Gospel mes- 
sage to the Siamese and Laos—these men, women and children 
who are so sorely in need of it—there is no one else to do it. 
Are you not glad that your new “special work” is over in that 
land? For now you can begin, even while in your Bands and 
Junior Societies, to take your share in this blessed work which 
our Heavenly Father has seen fit, in His wisdom, to intrust to 
our beloved Presbyterian Church. 


72 


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OUR WORK IN FAR AWAY LANDS 


QUESTIONS ON LESSON STORY. 


Of what country are you now studying? Where is it? 
From what land did its inhabitants come? 


Who live in the south of Siam? Who in the north? 


. In which people are you the most interested? 


What can you tell of the life and customs of the Laos? 


Who were the first Protestant missionaries to Siam? 


. When was our Presbyterian work begun there? 


How many Missions have we now? 


. In which is your “special work”? 
. Who is your missionary, and in which Station is she? 


. What can you tell of Miss Starling, and of Chieng Mai Sta- 


tion? 


. Why have Presbyterians a very special interest in missions 


to the Siamese and Laos? 


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